Comedian Larry Dorsey, Jr., Part 1

Ed. note: This one is special for a couple reasons. First, Larry blew us away with his kindness, energy, and knowledge. Also, we recorded under the BART tracks, so we took pauses when trains passed by overhead. We decided to leave that audio in the final edit because, well, it was part of the experience that day. We hope you enjoy.
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Larry Dorsey, Jr.'s parents came to the Bay Area from the South and South America.

In this podcast, the SF born-and-raised comedian and radio personality shares the story of his parents' migration to San Francisco. His dad played football in the NFL before his move west; Larry's mom, a lawyer, left her home country of Colombia because of political reasons.

They arrived in Oakland separately and met at SF State. Larry is their first-born, one of two sons. Larry has vague memories of his first years on Earth, which he shares with us. One is a pretty hilarious (and hilariously cute) playground-type story.

Larry tells us what it was like to go to a "hippy" elementary, and then contrasts that with his time at Aptos Junior High. But he also spent many school lunchtimes in the library. His curiosity and pursuit of knowledge was just getting started. He ended up at Lowell, during a time when he started getting into "a lot of trouble."

Larry wraps up Part 1 sharing the first time he got in trouble with a cop.

Join us Thursday for Part 2 and the continuation of Larry Dorsey, Jr.'s story.

Related Podcast
Arthur Gaus, Part 1 and Part 2

We recorded this podcast at Cayuga Park in April 2021.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather