Brandon Smiley

Standup Comedian and Son of Atlanta radio host Rickey Smiley, dies at 32

James Jackson TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER Brandon Smiley, a standup comedian and the son of Atlanta radio host and comedian Rickey Smiley, died on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023. He was 32. The popular radio host announced the news in a video on his social media accounts. “Pray for our family, my son Brandon Smiley has passed away this morning,” he said. Smiley, who said he was coping well with the news in the video, also told his audience to pray for his son’s daughter Storm, his mother Brenda and his son’s siblings. Soon after he announced the news, he posted a string of videos of he and his son, including Brandon performing standup comedy as a child and a standup comedy set at the Stardome comedy club in Alabama where the older Smiley often tells jokes and hosts karaoke nights. The younger Smiley, who was baptized in 2022 and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior, admitted to being a “daddy’s boy” in another video posted by the radio host. “I’m a daddy’s boy, I ain’t going to front,” Brandon declared in the video. He pointed to his father and said, “When I’m sick or have a problem, this is who I turn to.” Joseph W. Walker III, a well-known keynote speaker and bishop of the Mount Zion Church of Nashville, gave a prayer during the Jan 30. edition of Smiley’s morning show. “We all miss Brandon and the gift that he was,” Walker said. “Father, cover the Smiley family, cover all of them.” Services were held Saturday, Feb. 4, at Faith Chapel in Birmingham, Alabama, with a live stream on faithchapel.net.