{"id":2511,"date":"2024-06-24T13:25:01","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T17:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/?p=2511"},"modified":"2024-06-25T08:35:43","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T12:35:43","slug":"chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Chonda Pierce Karaoke Comedy ‘Roll with It’ Releases to Home Video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comedy icon Chonda Pierce is one of the funniest people on the planet, not only in her sold-out standup shows but also in various productions and now her first starring role in a film, \u201cRoll with It.\u201d The film, which released as a special limited presentation to theaters, releases to digital and home video on June 25 from Shout! Studios. \u00a0The film includes additional content, including a blooper reel.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Chonda Pierce stars in ‘Roll with It.’ Image courtesy of Shout Factory.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the 64-year-old Christian comedian,\u00a0the long-awaited release has a special family connection, writing the original draft with her late husband, David.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had such a tender connection to it because my husband was involved in writing the script long before he passed,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was so much personal stuff that went into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRoll with It,\u201d written and directed by Chris Dowling, is semi-autobiographical, with Pierce playing a newly widowed single mother adjusting to life after the death of her husband. Starring with Pierce is Judith Hoag (\u201cArmageddon,\u201d \u201cNashville\u201d), McKaley Miller (\u201cMa,\u201d \u201cScream Queens\u201d), Evan Hofer (\u201cGeneral Hospital,\u201d \u201cDwight in Shining Armor\u201d), Carl McDowell (\u201cBallers,\u201d \u201cHolidate\u201d), and Mark Christopher Lawrence (\u201cBringing Back Christmas,\u201d \u201cFamily Camp\u201d). It also includes cameos from singer-songwriter Michael W. Smith, actress Shari Rigby, and television personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck.<\/p>\n

\"\"
‘Roll with It’ cover art courtesy of Shout Factory.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now that the film has \u201crolled out,\u201d Pierce is grateful that she doesn\u2019t have to answer when or where people can watch it. She cited faced many setbacks in the release to theaters and home video, including the Covid shutdown and studio juggling that delayed its release.<\/p>\n

In the film\u2019s big moment, Pierce belts out Gloria Gaynor\u2019s \u201cI Will Survive,\u201d which ironically is also the song she does a show-stopping parody of in her live concerts. The comedian said Dowling was \u201cvery relieved\u201d when he heard her sing it for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sweetest thing was we went over to record the track, and that was the first time that the director I think realized that I could carry a tune,\u201d she said. \u201cYou should have seen how elated Chris Dowling was when I first opened my mouth and started singing like, \u2018Oh my gosh, thank you.\u2019 I think he was worried that I couldn’t pull it off, and they were really gonna have to do some kind of miracle (edit). It was hilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also fun to \u201csurprise the gospel music world\u201d that \u201cOh, she can sing!,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In addition to \u201cRoll with It,\u201d Pierce has recently released the memoir \u201cLife Is Funny; Until It\u2019s Not,\u201d chronicling the tragedies she has dealt with throughout life, even as she put on a brave, light-hearted face for audiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very raw and very real,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not an easy book to read and it was certainly not an easy book to write. But I just decided that before I retire and my career is done, I wanted to tell everybody for every valley I\u2019ve walked through, every mountaintop I\u2019ve walked through, there\u2019s a journey in between the climb up and the climb down. And that\u2019s why wanted to write.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though she\u2019s not had an easy life, experiencing death in a \u201cvariety of ways,\u201d she is grateful for \u201can incredible career and a whole lot to laugh about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think I’m the only person that’s had a tough life as far as comics go,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you dive into the past of a lot of comedians, they have really gone through some stuff. My life is no different. But I but I wanted to get it all said. I want someday my grandchildren to see who I really was, and the good and the bad and the ugly of who I really was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pierce was recently recognized by the Recording Industry Association of America as the top-selling female comedian of all time. She credits a strong work ethic that had her prepping a new video every year or two and a solid fanbase who enjoy clean comedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have probably forgotten more material then than I could possibly remember because of having so many projects and some of them are very tender to me, because every single video every single show and everything I’ve ever done always had a meaning to it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comedy icon Chonda Pierce is one of the funniest people on the planet, not only in her sold-out standup shows but also in various productions and now her first starring role in a film, \u201cRoll with It.\u201d The film, which released as a special limited presentation to theaters, releases to digital and home video on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":683,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[200],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-news"],"yoast_head":"\nChonda Pierce Karaoke Comedy 'Roll with It' Releases to Home Video<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Comedy icon Chonda Pierce is one of the funniest people on the planet, not only in her sold-out standup shows but also in various productions and now her first starring role in a film, \u201cRoll with It.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chonda Pierce Karaoke Comedy 'Roll with It' Releases to Home Video\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Comedy icon Chonda Pierce is one of the funniest people on the planet, not only in her sold-out standup shows but also in various productions and now her first starring role in a film, \u201cRoll with It.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Latest News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-24T17:25:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-25T12:35:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/452\/2024\/06\/ChondaRollwitIt.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dewayne Hamby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chonda Pierce Karaoke Comedy 'Roll with It' Releases to Home Video","description":"Comedy icon Chonda Pierce is one of the funniest people on the planet, not only in her sold-out standup shows but also in various productions and now her first starring role in a film, \u201cRoll with It.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chonda Pierce Karaoke Comedy 'Roll with It' Releases to Home Video","og_description":"Comedy icon Chonda Pierce is one of the funniest people on the planet, not only in her sold-out standup shows but also in various productions and now her first starring role in a film, \u201cRoll with It.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/","og_site_name":"Latest News","article_published_time":"2024-06-24T17:25:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-25T12:35:43+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/452\/2024\/06\/ChondaRollwitIt.jpg"}],"author":"Dewayne Hamby","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/","name":"Chonda Pierce Karaoke Comedy 'Roll with It' Releases to Home Video","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/452\/2024\/06\/ChondaRollwitIt.jpg","datePublished":"2024-06-24T17:25:01+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-25T12:35:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/#\/schema\/person\/4004e447ddc012176fcab048a7ca1720"},"description":"Comedy icon Chonda Pierce is one of the funniest people on the planet, not only in her sold-out standup shows but also in various productions and now her first starring role in a film, \u201cRoll with It.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/452\/2024\/06\/ChondaRollwitIt.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/452\/2024\/06\/ChondaRollwitIt.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/06\/24\/chonda-pierce-karaoke-comedy-roll-with-it-releases-to-home-video\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Chonda Pierce Karaoke Comedy ‘Roll with It’ Releases to Home Video"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/","name":"Latest News","description":"Online Christian news with the latest headlines relevant to Christians. New stories updated daily from a Christian perspective.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/#\/schema\/person\/4004e447ddc012176fcab048a7ca1720","name":"Dewayne Hamby","description":"DeWayne Hamby is a longtime journalist, covering the entertainment industry for a variety of publications for 30 years, and currently a featured writer for Patheos.com, a premier religious and spirituality website. Through the years, DeWayne has conducted hundreds of interviews with award-winning actors, actresses and directors, popular media personalities, beloved music icons, pioneering industry leaders, and bestselling authors, centering on topics related to faith, spirituality, and family. His work has been referenced and featured in a variety of print and online publications such as Charisma magazine, Rolling Stone, Dove, Us Weekly, The Blaze, Movieguide\u00ae, and BeliefNet. DeWayne is also a member of the Critics\u2019 Choice Association, the #BestofSMS social media professionals\u2019 group, and has served in an advisory role in communications and marketing initiatives for a variety of non-profit organizations. DeWayne earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Lee University and currently lives in the Orlando area with his wife and three daughters. You can read his Patheos column, Reel Faith, here.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/author\/dhamby\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2511"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2574,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511\/revisions\/2574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}