Flex Alexander [EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW]: Shanice's Husband Talks 'Comedy Underground Series' : MStarsNews

Flex and Shanice star Flex Alexander is heading back to where it all began. The OWN series star is returning to stand-up comedy, something he began over 20 years ago while working as a hip-hop dancer – long before he met and married the love of his life, R&B singer Shanice.

After a brief decade-or-so-long sabbatical from the stage, Comedy Underground Series has been able to revitalize Alexander's love for the art of stand-up. He recently hosted the second installment of the series, which will air on the Urban Movie Channel this coming Aug. 28.

Alexander recently spoke with MStars News about his return to comedy, the secret to marriage and how even celebrities can go through hard times.

MStars News: Congrats on Comedy Underground Series. For people who don't know, can you explain a little bit about it?
Flex Alexander: The series was created by Angela White, the executive producer, and directed by Paul Hannah. I worked with them on a film they were doing called My Sister's Wedding. Angela called me up, she said, "Hey, I'm doing this comedy series. Would you be interested?" I had been working really hard since the first season of the show, building back to get back to stand-up.

[The series] is a mixture of comedians people don't know or ones they do know but just haven't seen in a while – like myself. I'm being introduced to a new generation that didn't know I did stand-up. A lot of those kids know I did One on One, but they didn't know I did stand-up because I stopped doing it at that time.

MS: You started in stand-up in the late 80s/early 90s?
FA: Yeah, first I started as a hip-hop dancer, and then I started stand-up in '89, and I was still dancing at the time. I was dancing for Salt-n-Pepa, and we would go on tour. They would come, support me and watch me do stand-up. So they said, "Hey, while we on tour [with us] why don't you go do stand-up?" So I would go out for about 30 minutes, go back, change, and come out and dance.

MS: I know comedians who open for musicians, and sometimes it can go all wrong, but sometimes it goes great. How was it opening for them?
FA: It was great. I mean, it worked out. Of course I was nervous as heck; I'm always nervous before I go on stage. We're doing these theaters, and I'm like just freaking out. But once I got out there, I was fine. It was fun and it was so supportive.

MS: So with this show, was it the first time you had gotten back on that stage doing stand-up in a long while?
FA: I had been [performing] the last year or so since the first season, I had been hitting the stage hard.

MS: And how was it getting back into it?
FA: It was good – I'm not gonna say easy. Again, I was nervous wreck but it was fun, it was exhilarating again. I kind of lost the love for it [back then]. When I moved to California there wasn't a lot of places I could do stand-up. There are clubs here, but it's such an industry-oriented place. When I lived in New York I worked probably every night of the week, and I could go to the Comedy Cellar at midnight, 1 a.m. with eight or nine people. I could go to Boston Comedy Club, I could go to Stand-Up New York, different places and, not to knock L.A., but I had been used to being able to get on stage every night.

But then I was working doing sitcom television, so you're making good money. But I should have just [kept doing it]. That's one of the things Kevin Hart told me. He said "Why did you stop?" He said, "You gotta keep going. You gotta keep going." He saw me when I was trying to get my feet back out there, he said, "Man, if you need me, just let me know. But get back on stage man."

MS: So did you notice that your material changed jumping back into it?
FA: Oh yeah. My material changed. Married with kids- I've gone through very traumatic times with having money and losing it and having a family and having to deal with that stuff was tough in and of itself. So, I talked about it. I just literally talked about it all and it was liberating, freeing, cathartic, and people related.

MS: One thing that I love about Flex and Shanice is that you guys are so open about reality. Viewers see people on television and think they've got it made, when the truth is just because you're in Hollywood doesn't mean that you don't struggle. Is that something that you've always been that open about?
FA: Nah, we were a little nervous about it but I talked to my wife. I said, "Hey, look, if we're gonna do this, let's do it. Let's not halfway do it, let's just be open because I'd rather us open up about it as opposed to blogs or whatever." That's not really understanding the situation.

MS: Flex and Shanice is in its second season. I know there was some trepidation going into reality television because you didn't know if you'd be able to do the "bigger acting roles." How did you get over that?
FA: I just figured we have a story to tell and I kind of had to look beyond what I personally felt and look at the bigger picture. Also, seeing that this is where things are going, you kind of have to adapt or else you get left behind. Once I figured out a way we could talk about it and be positive. We have creative control and input and we created the show, so we're able to really stick to what we wanna stick to and not be lead in a direction that's not comfortable for us. Because nobody knows our story better than us.

MS: How do you feel about it now?
FA: I'm a happy man just because when I travel and get a reaction from people like, "Hey man, you really blessed me," or "Hey, I was going through that," or "My family and I, this happened and watching you let me know we can make it."

It also allows you a platform to get yourself back out there and do what you wanna do. Like my stand-up or my wife singing.

MS: You and Shanice have been married for 15 years. You always hear about Hollywood marriages breaking up. What's your secret?
FA: Communication. Everybody looks at us like "Oh my God, you guys have the perfect marriage." No, we don't. We've gone through our times. We've gone through times where we don't want to look at each other, and go in another room. But at the end of the day, we work it out. We don't go to bed angry because that's our rule. And we don't really argue, we've only probably had two or three big arguments in our 15 years.

My wife, really- I got a great wife. She stuck in there when I know a lot of women wanna go for that free ride. You see that a lot. [Shanice] stuck it out. We got our family, we got our kids. As long as I have them, I'm cool.