If there is any single comedian more deserving than the man known simply as T. Murph may he dare to step forth.

As a local man known for his natural comedic presence, Terry “T. Murph” Jackson began rising through the ranks of the comedy scene around Carbondale three years ago. T. Murph gained a firm dramatic arts background in his youth, attending the Evanston, Ill.-based Piven Theatre Workshop on scholarship.

As a man of skill, and a believer in how comedy is truly 10 percent act and 90 percent business, he has been managing and marketing himself throughout his career. One of his first stops was on Black Entertainment Television’s “Comic View.”

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“It was surreal. I got a chance to audition, I emailed them and they actually went ahead and sent a confirmation email,” T. Murph said. “‘Comic View’ sent me back another email for an audition in Atlanta. Wherever I have to go is where I am going to go.”

T. Murph counted himself as a fan of the urban comedy staple, which has featured artists such as Ricky Smiley, Steve Harvey and Cedric the Entertainer.

“They did showcases for auditions all over the nation and 60 people were picked out of hundreds,” T. Murph said. “I actually met Kevin Hart while I was there. I took a picture with him and everything. I had to prove to people that I was taller than him.”

While appearing on the TV program “Key and Peele,” T. Murph was featured in its season finale sketch in which he played a barber with Billy D. Williams, who starred as Lando Calrissian in the original “Star Wars” franchise.

“I taped (‘Key and Peele’) last year in July, and I ended up getting that because I opened for them … and they liked me,” T. Murph said. “They did a live improv show, and they basically did the sketches of their show on stage. I was the opening act. I did like 20 or 30 minutes.”

T. Murph said well-known comics such as Will Ferrell attended the show as well.

“I was actually supposed to film two sketches with them, but I ended up having to fly back to Chicago because I was a part of the TBS festival ‘Just for Laughs,’ the biggest comedy festival in the nation,” he said.

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T. Murph’s future plans include pitching a show focused on sketch comedy in a talk show format. He also wants to shoot several documentaries and write a book, with the latter relating to the black and universal college experience.

“We grow up watching movies like ‘School Daze,’ and that’s what you are taught college is going to be like, and you get here and it is nothing like that,” he said. “You grow up and your parents tell you ‘Go to college and get a good job.’ Well, you can go to college now, but that good job part, it’s not really about that because it doesn’t really work like that.”

T. Murph is also starting a college tour in September and will head to places such as Ohio and Atlanta, adding others along the way.

“It’s a complete hustle. It’s a real grind out there,” he said. “If you don’t have the business aspect down, you do not make it.”