CULVER CITY, Calif. – Though comedian J.B. Smoove has always been funny, to him it wasn’t always a laughing matter.

Smoove, who plays the goof-up pal Kenny on Fox’s “’Til Death,” which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on Fox, started his life as a graphic designer. He lost his dad when he was in the eighth grade and grew up in the projects, with two younger brothers.

“I didn’t have dreams about show business. I studied art. I was an artist in high school. I studied math, engineering, drafting, graphic design and also fine art. I bounced around. I used to draw as a kid every day,” he says backstage during a break in filming.

After college Smoove (J.B. stands for Jerry Brooks) snagged a job as a graphic designer and began performing three times a week for free, “just to get going. I just loved it.”

Suddenly things began to pick up. “I started doing some of the early Comedy Central stuff. I dabbled in extra work – I just wanted to be in a movie – anything, I don’t care. But people who saw me perform would give me a line here and there. Next thing I know, I had my own little night on Tuesday night in the Bronx … near where I lived. And all my friends would come.”

It was his “performance,” as a contestant on “The Dating Game,” that first convinced him he was funny. “Every answer I gave was so crazy that the crowd would go crazy. She asked, ‘If we were in the jungle and I were Jane and you were Tarzan, what would be your mating call?’”

He lets out a Tarzan yelp, ending it with a loud, “Ba-by!” “The crowd just laughed. At that moment I said, ‘Wow, I’m hoping to be doing this.’ I realized all this time I’d been joking around, having fun with my friends all these years, didn’t realize that once I got on stage you felt all this energy from the audience. I started thinking of other funny things to say, and every answer I gave was so hilarious. I finished my degree and went back home to New York and knew I wanted to do this.”

For 10 years he performed without an agent or manager and for very little pay. But it was the birth of his daughter (now 14), from a previous relationship, that changed everything. “I quit the drafting job the day she was born,” he says.

“I truly believe the only way you can succeed in certain things is you have to do it. You have to have no other choice to make it work.”

He figures he inherited his humor from his mother. “Mom is one of the funniest people in the world,” he says. “She was on dialysis for 10 years and got a kidney last year. But even through all that, personality-wise, she does stuff, she’s active. She loves going to Atlantic City with her friends, loves to travel.”

After the birth of his daughter, he auditioned for “In Living Color,” but didn’t make it. He ricocheted between New York and L.A., landing different gigs including “The Chris Rock Show,” “The Lyricist Lounge Show” and the film “Pootie Tang.”

He worked for “Saturday Night Live” for three years but was not renewed for the fourth. Finally, it was his role as Larry David’s fast-talking roommate in “Curb Your Enthusiasm” that brought him the Hollywood seal of approval.

“After ‘Curb’ I got lots of offers, to do ‘’Til Death,’ ‘Kath & Kim’ and a development deal with another studio. I said to myself, ‘I had a lot of friends who had pilot deals and they had one shot and it was kind of over.’ I said, ‘I’m going to slow it down. And ‘’Til Death’ was one of the shows that was consistent.’”

Smoove has been married a little over a year to actress-singer Shahidah Omar. “When you meet someone out here of course, you’re a little cautious in L.A.,” he says. “But there are some good people here.”