Ever since beating out adults on the BET competition show Comin’ to the Stage,  Lil’ JJ has been proving that the biggest laughs can often come from the smallest person in the room.  Since that victory Lil’ JJ has starred in his own Nickelodeon series Just Jordan, and honed his skills as a rapper.

Now the 17 year-old Arkansas native is releasing his live variety/sketch show DVD Almost Grown.  Sixshot went behind the laughter with the comedian to discuss getting’ grown, missing out on his childhood, the scandal surrounding some of his fellow teen stars, and much more.

What is your underlying message to young people through comedy?

Everything I've talked about a lot of kids can relate to.  As the young spokesperson for a lot of people I can get stuff off my chest that kids want to say, but don’t know how to say.  The title of the DVD explains what I'm going through.  I'm going through a bunch of stuff, like I want to be grown but I'm not quite there yet. It’s hard with the stuff I do now.

I'm in entertainment and around older people that are grown. I see what they do and I wanna do that, but they say, “You can't do that ‘cause you ain't grown.”  I'm like, well I'm almost there so that should count for something.  So I feel like ev erything I do sends a message in its own way.

You said that there are certain things you want to do but can’t because you are not an adult.  What are you looking forward to about getting grown?

More freedom.  Since I'm young and I'm paying taxes, I feel like I need to be able to vote like the next person.  I want to go to clubs and party with other people and have fun.  I don’t like sitting at home having to baby-sit while everybody is at the party and clubs.

What are you most dreading about getting grown?

Paying bills.

You already pay bills.

I do that stuff now but when you get grown there’s more stuff.  Extra bills get added for no reason—just some, “Oh you grown now so we gon’ give you some more bills.”  You got more responsibilities and then you have to work a little bit harder because people expect more from me. So I'm not really gonna say that I'm not looking forward to it ‘cause I am.  Whatever the future brings as far as me being grown I'll figure out how to deal with it the best way possible.

How has it been growing up in the spotlight?

I enjoy it and I feel like this is my life.  It’s something I always wanted to do.  I tell people that I'm an all around entertainer.  I have every talent.  I can find anything and if I put my heart and mind to it I make it happen.  I rap, dance, do stand-up, write, and I executive produced the DVD.  I try to maintain everything.  I've learned so much from just growing up in the game.  I see up-and-coming people and I try to give them advice from mistakes I made in the past—not saying I could have made too many ‘cause I'm not that old.

What kind of mistakes did you make?

I didn’t realize exactly what I was doing as far as when it came to throwing away my childhood.  I feel like it’s best when you can balance both and still have fun and do entertainment.  I was more focused on entertainment ‘cause I knew that’s what I wanted to do so I didn’t care about anything else.

So you feel like you missed out on your childhood?

Yeah, and school stuff ‘cause I did home schooling.  I sit back and listen to other school stories about prom and graduation.  With me being in entertainment I don’t get the chance to do all that stuff.  So I have to find people that have graduations and be like I'm gonna go to yours and make it mine.  [Laughs]

Many child stars miss out on their childhood and then go through a series of serious issues because of that, so does that concern you at all?

Of course I hear about stuff like that a lot and even me looking at that it let's me know what I'm not gonna do.  I'm from Arkansas and it’s very rare you gon’ have somebody my age or from here doing what I'm doing.

What do you think of some of the bad press that your peers such as Jamie Lynn Spears and Miley Cyrus have been receiving as of late?

I try not to get into all that stuff ‘cause a lot of times that’s their business.  I know what to do and what not to do from looking at the next person.  You got people that’s doing stuff now and people don’t even look at that stuff.  A normal person can do something crazy and nobody pays attention to it, but then you’ll have a person with a name do something small and they blow it out of proportion like it's the biggest thing.  I try to focus on me and what I do and how to better myself.

So we won’t see you posing backless on a magazine cover anytime soon?

No, far from that!  [Laughs]

How does your family handle your success?

One thing about my family—they excited about what I do but they don’t necessarily show how excited they are about it.  Everybody is working on their own thing.  My sister plays basketball and my brother is into sports and entrainment as well.  So when they’re at school they’re like, “Your bother’s Lil' JJ,” and they be like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah…”

Right now you’re doing comedy targeted at a young audience but do you ever find it to be limiting?  Are you looking forward to breaking free from that as you get older?

The thing about me is that comedy is not necessarily modified or adjusted.  If people give me props me I tell them if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.  If me keeping it clean and everybody is enjoying it as far as adults, kids, and teens why would I change it up and cater to one audience?  I got all three and I want everybody to listen to it and laugh.  Laughter is the best medicine for whatever you’re doing.

You mentioned laughter is the best medicine.  So what’s one experience where laughter helped you get over a hard time?

Everybody goes through their situations where you be down and out about something, whether it’s the career or something that happened like a family issue.  You be down about it but it’s hard for me to explain because my stories go on and on…

That’s okay I got all day.  [Laughs]

[Laughs]  I came to different roadblocks with my career where I can’t do this or that.  I had to miss out on one event cause I have something else to do.  I would get down about it, but at the same time you got to look at the good side.  The people I keep in my corner and surroundings look at things in a good way.  I wouldn’t be expecting to laugh at the situation.  It’ll be the worst and they’ll look at the best out of it and be like, don’t trip.

You seem to take your work very seriously.  Do you ever think you’re too hard on yourself?

No, I enjoy how I am on myself cause people can see that I enjoy what I do.  They can see the hard work.  I am the best at what I do so I still try to prove it to myself and the next person.

You’ve been in videos for artist such as Chris Brown and Sean Kingston. What do you think is your appeal to these artists?

I don't know man.  It’s crazy because I see everybody doing their thing, so eventually I’m gonna be right there as well.  [Laughs]

You must have swagger.

Yeah, I do me and do what I does.  I look forward to stepping on the scene and doing what I do.

I read that your TV show is filmed at Crenshaw High School which has a bad reputation.  So is it important to film there and show a different side of the urban environment?

I don’t think our show had a whole lot to do with showing a different side of the urban environment.  Everybody wants to look at stuff like it has a bad reputation, but a lot of time it’s not the school that has the reputation it’s these people that go to the school.  We based it out of Crenshaw to make it real.  When you got me from Little Rock, Arkansas you can't make me randomly go to this private school acting extra proper.  It don’t work like that.  I want people to watch the show and say that’s funny ‘cause it’s real, and not think that it’s corny.  So I think it made the show better.

What else do you have in the works?

I’m looking forward to being on the road this summer.  I’m gonna do a movie with Ice Cube soon, Yankee Promoters.  I’m also working on a rap album.  I wish I could sing but I ain’t got that talent.

For more information on Lil’ JJ please visit:
http://www.myspace.com/liljj_live

To view the DVD trailer please visit;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ccprS4EQto

To purchase the DVD please visit:
http://www.amazon.com/Lil-Almost-Grown-Variety-Show/dp/B0016PT95A/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1211289472&sr=8-4