The Fourth of July weekend opens Friday, July 2, with a Comedy Explosion, which will bring to Selma three headliners widely known in the entertainment field for their talent and unique personalities.

Show time is 7 p.m. at School of Discovery Pickard Auditorium.

Tickets are $15, half the regular price, and must be bought in advance at 1 Stop Records, 128 Alabama Avenue.

In his own inimitable comedic style, CED Delaney is hosting the show. Roy Wood Jr. of Birmingham and Steve Brown of Tuscaloosa are the featured acts. Wood, who was once a semifinalist in CBS’s New Star Search, was also selected as one of nine National Finalists in Comedy Central’s 2002 Laugh Riots Competition.

He is also heard every morning in Birmingham on the 95.7 Jamz Buckwilde Morning Show and has also opened for comics Tommy Davidson, D.L. Hughley and Sommore. Only 24, Wood offers his view on the world from a Generation X perspective as he recounts events that have shaped his life.

Brown centers much of his comedy routine on his growing up years and he also does prank phone calls.

Both the featured entertainers have popular CDs.

The Comedy Explosion is brought to Selma by Rainmaker Productions, a partnership of Alpha Phi Alpha Inc. fraternity brothers Dr. Bruce Taylor, MD, and Kobe Little, administrative director for Congressman Artur Davis, and Kelvin Lang of Birmingham.

When asked why a busy physician makes the time for events such as Comedy Explosion, Taylor responds, laughing, “Doctors are always telling folks what to do medically, but laughter and humor are the best medicine. If this event is successful, I plan to do more.”

The fraternity, according to Taylor “gave us good training and background in events planning. We did a lot of that.” The experience is serving the Rainmakers well as they complete documents to become a 501-C-3 (not for profit) health and community service related organization.

They recently staged a Health Fair at the Selma Mall, which was attended by 1,500-1,600 people, Taylor says. “I don’t know the exact count but the Mall front parking lot was filled.”

Taylor graduated from University of Alabama Birmingham in ’94 and UAB Medical School in 2000, then completed three years residency in internal medicine at Baptist Montclair and Baptist Princeton. He took his medical exam in August 2003 and opened his practice here in Selma.

Taylor says he chose Selma because “Dallas County has the highest diabetes rate in the nation. My mother is diabetic, my father died at 55 from smoking and poor eating habits. I work every day to prevent diabetes and to teach patients good health habits.”

As far back as he can remember, Taylor says “it was always medicine. I was sick a lot as a kid with asthma, in and out of the hospital, Children’s Hospital in Birmingham. That probably influenced my career decision.”

Taylor’s wife Danica is a pediatric nurse practitioner in the office of local pediatricians Drs. Lotfi Bashir, Iad Hammad and Samer Assaasd.

The Taylors, whose home is in Castlewood, say they have found Selma “receptive and friendly.” And Selma has welcomed them into the city’s medical community.