by Ann Fletcher



Cornelius comedian Kim Coleman has some brand new boots and a date with destiny.

A friend surprised Coleman with an outfit to wear to the Charlotte Convention Center this Saturday where she has an audition with producers of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”

After 22 years in theatre and 12 years as a stand-up comic, Coleman’s getting a shot at one of NBC’s hottest shows.

Hosted by actor-comedian Nick Cannon and judged by Sharon Osborne, Howie Mandel and newcomer Howard Stern, who replaces Piers Morgan, “America’s Got Talent” showcases acts from across the nation.

Charlotte is one of eight cities hosting auditions for the show’s seventh season, which airs this summer.

Coleman will have a minute and a half to deliver her shtick.

“I have 90 seconds to give them my best,” she said.

She doesn’t know who’ll judge her audition, but said her paperwork indicates celebrity judges don’t enter the picture until later this spring.

Coleman finds humor in everyday life, even this week’s shopping trip with a friend to find audition clothes for her “short, stocky” body.

“My new pair of boots has ‘extended calf room,’” she said. “It says right on the box: ‘extended calf room.’ Is that like ‘extended cab room’? On a truck? A little extra space so you can haul more?”

Even with additional room, her calves, she said, find a way to blossom over her boots. “I told my friend, ‘Look at that! I’ve got muffin tops on my legs.’”

Coleman keeps her comedy clean. She doesn’t perform in nightclubs. She books churches, retreats and special events. She bills herself as a Christian comedian.

After majoring in theatre and speech education at Appalachian State University, she’s worked with theatre companies in four states and toured nationally. She currently teaches drama at Vance High School in Charlotte. She got her start in Christian comedy back in 2000 at Lakewood Church, Joel Osteen’s mega-church in Houston, Texas.

In 2003, she moved to Cornelius with her husband and daughter (she now has two) and began attending Grace Covenant Church. Her primary motivation to do comedy is to share her faith and make people laugh without cussing or cruelty.

Some comedy bits come from the classroom: “I once had a student named ‘Patience’ and she took mine,” she said. “I had a kid named ‘Precious’ … And she wasn’t.”

She’ll avoid the cattle call lines most hopefuls face during open auditions. Coleman’s audition was scheduled for a specific date and time after her talent agent submitted videos of her routines.

Despite her hectic schedule as a high school teacher and single mother of two still reeling from a 2009 divorce, Coleman is ready to squeeze some comedy back into her life. For months, she gave up stand-up. Her family split consumed her. Funny felt foreign.

Then, one weekend last October, she accepted a gig at a south Charlotte church and something broke loose in her again.

“The whole weekend was about things that steal your joy and the hard things you go through, but you lean on God to get you through it, and He does,” she said. “This is could be a really great opportunity. You cannot ‘out-dream’ God. You can never ‘out-imagine’ what He might have planned for you.”