Club Shay Shay - Chris Tucker

Episode Date: January 25, 2021

On episode 18 of Club Shay Shay, Shannon welcomes in comedian & actor Chris Tucker. Chris and Shannon discuss all aspects of his long and successful career, beginning with his start in standup comedy and his iconic role as Smokey in ‘Friday.’ Tucker grew up in Atlanta, idolizing Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy and aspiring to be an entertainer. Shannon grills Chris on the rest of his filmography, including ‘Dead Presidents,’ ‘Money Talks,’ ‘Jackie Brown,’ and the ‘Rush Hour’ franchise. Chris reveals his top 5 hood classic films and his Mount Rushmore of comedians, and explains what it was like to work with legends such as Bernie Mac, John Witherspoon, Ice Cube, and Jackie Chan. Shannon & Chris also touch on the latest in sports news, including the passing of Hank Aaron, Kobe’s final game, Chris’s all-time NBA starting five, and his Super Bowl LV & NBA Title picks. Chris has decades of stories, knowledge, and advice from his entertainment heroes to share with Shannon in this can’t-miss conversation. #DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:                                                                 https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshayhttps://twitter.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.facebook.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I am your host. I'm also to another edition of Club Che Che. I am your host. I'm also the proprietor of Club Che Che, and I promised you when we started this podcast that I would bring you some of the biggest and brightest stars and athletes in their particular genres, and today I have one. He's a comedian, he's an actor, he's an executive producer, and he's the fastest actor to make the elite Hollywood club the $20 million club. My dog, Chris Tucker. I've been grinding all my life. Sacrifice. Muscle paid the price. Want to slice. Got the rolling dice. That's why.

All my life. I've been grinding all my life. Chuck, what's up? Janet! What's up, man? I ain't got none of that money no more. I don't want nobody calling me. It's all gone.

All of it gone? All of it. Chuck, how you been doing? How you been doing, bro? Man, I'm doing good, man. I'm doing great. I'm doing great. How you?

Bro, I'm good. I really can't complain. I'm gainfully employed. I'm doing better than a lot of people. You know, the 2020 was bad for a lot of people. A lot of people lost their jobs. A lot of people, a lot of families lost loved ones. But I was very fortunate, and I'm blessed.

Yes. Yes, man. It was a year, man. man but we're gonna get through it man i remember i was in new york for 9 11 and i thought the world was ending because it was the night after it was the morning after michael jackson had the big concerts in new york uh the 9th and the 10th right next day was 9 11 woke up man people called me you know they we getting attacked and all this stuff. I said, we're about to end. I just laid back down. And, man, then some friends called and said, get up, man.

We getting on the bus. We going up to Jersey. And, man, you know, the world started back up. And we got past that. We going to get past this pandemic, man. And I've been taking advantage of these last 10, 11 months and been focusing, been organizing, been praying. And it took a phenomenon to get me to get organized, but God made it happen. So you mentioned the pandemic. So what have you actually been up to? Man, you know what? I've been resting, you know, because I was touring. I was touring and I was going, you know, get home and then get back on a plane,

which I love to do. And, you know, I started and then get back on a plane, which I love to do. And, you know, I started out doing stand up comedy, but I've been resting, organizing, praying, meditating, focusing. I took advantage of this time. Like I said, you know, I knew I know we're going to get out of this. But, you know, so I wasn't going to be lazy and not do nothing. Got to organize, got my rest, you know, of course, worked a lot on on you know stand-up stuff scripts and and producing stuff but mainly uh you know prayer life and resting and just getting that together man and that's been good for me because i'm ready to go now i'm ready to go we get out of this i don't know how many people know this about you but i know this about you because i know you're a little

better than most people you're an avid golfer how's the golf game coming man it's coming good i finally got a coach because everybody say get a teacher you know because you know we grew up playing basketball and baseball and football you teach yourself you know black people think we got stuff not in golf you can't teach yourself in golf you got to get a teacher and i got a coach and he's helping me telling me to turn the left hip turn the left heel i'm like no i'm gonna swing it no it's all about the left hip so i'm getting better and i'm almost getting ready to beat my brother then so it's going good so my brother always comes to your tournament you have it every year i don't know if you're gonna have it this year and he always tells me i'm going to talk i'm going to tuck his

tournament can you beat him no man i talked talked to Marcus Allen about your brother yesterday. I said, Marcus, I heard you're a stretch golfer. He said, that's good for y'all to say that, but that ain't true. I said, what about Sterling? He said, Sterling is a stretch golfer. He's better than a stretch golfer. I said, I don't even know what that means. He said, he's a plus, plus, plus, plus something.

I said, what? And Sterling told me, I played played the only trophy i got from winning golf is in my room we played at uh lake uh lake what's the big the famous one here uh eastlake eastlake here in atlanta georgia where tiger won the big championship i played on your brother team on sterling team and we won sterling so cold blood he didn't get his trophy he just left before they gave the trophy he said i wanted to thank him and hug him and kiss him he was gone on the road drive because you know we talked about you drive everywhere i said man it's the only trophy i got and it's a bad trophy i mean it's beautiful he was at warren warren dunn's tournament man that's the only trophy i ever won besides my own golf tournament

they gave me a free honorary trophy he's good though man so you say you're getting better let me ask you this. Can you beat Charles Barkley? I can beat Charles Barkley. Now, the way he used to swing, he got a little bit better. I can beat Charles Barkley. Somebody just asked me that last night. They were laughing when they were saying, can you play better than Charles? I said, yeah, I can beat Charles.

He came to my tournament last year too. But Charles, that's my boy. But I can beat him. And I'm going to be able to beat him once I get these lessons done. Well done well i mean it seems to be like golf is the new thing because i see a lot of athletes like when they retire football players basketball baseball hockey forget the professional sport that golf uh is the sport that they choose what is it about golf that you think attracts ex-athletes and even guys like yourself because it's always a task man it's it's you never figure it out it's always another level of the game once you get the driving right hitting

it off the tee you got to work on your irons you got to get that right and then you when you get close to the green you got to get the putt the chipping and the putting right so it's always a task and it's always you're trying to figure it out you're thinking the whole time and then the fellowship when you're on the course with your your brothers or buddies and stuff you know you get to know somebody in four hours they're gonna let you know who they are for real you're gonna be like oh man i didn't even know you talk like that oh you'll be like oh you're pretty smart oh man i think it's the last time i'm playing with you you know so you're gonna know something about your uh people with after four hours of playing golf. And then you knock the ball in the woods.

You get to experience nature. And I'm always in the woods. And one time I was talking to a deer one time. Did you see my ball? He said it was over there. But I'm a country boy. And I grew up by creeks and stuff like that. So I love the woods, being out in nature.

So it's all that good stuff with golf. Who would be your ideal foursome? Ideal foursome. I would say Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan. You, your brother, and Tiger Woods. I'm going to have a lot of people out there. Who's the one person you would like to play with that you said,

I beat him? Ooh. Well, my brother. My brother, because he's been beating me lately and uh i've been and i'm getting better because i got my lessons so what i just want to keep continually to get him and uh but we have a lot of fun with i don't ever want to get too serious that i don't i don't have fun with it because then i'll be like you know all on another level with that yeah but a lot of people take it real serious, though. They take it – I mean, they take it serious, serious. Yeah.

Yeah. But my brother – honestly, I would like to beat Michael Jordan. I want to go to his course, his own course, and beat him and then talk about him in front of everybody. Just – if people work for him and everybody – I would love to do that. Because Michael is the type of guy, if he beats you – if he's beating you or beats you in anything, he'll never let you forget it.

He's generally talking while it's going on, which makes it worse. Michael talks junk, man. I remember I went to his party to honor him and he told my girlfriend, what you doing with him? I looked at him. He said, oh, that's okay because I like him.

I actually like him. And I agree with him. That's how famous said, oh, that's okay, because I like him. I actually like him. And I agree with him. That's how famous he is. I said, he do like me, David. I saw you, I saw a picture the other day and this gentleman just passed recently on the golf course, you and Deebo. Talk about your relationship with Deebo

and what he meant and his past. What a great guy, man. I've known Deebo, known me since I was a little, like a young teenager going to the comedy clubs. He used to come to Atlanta and scare everybody out of the comedy club. He'd come in there and just yell it, screaming, scaring the comedians.

You didn't know if he was for real or not. So I've known him for a long time. And then we ended up doing Fridays together. And man, he just made that movie work, man. Him and everybody else, man, made that movie a classic. That was one of my first co-starring roles. And, man, he's always going to be etched in my story because we've done a lot of movies. We did Fifth Element together, a movie called Fifth Element.

We did Jackie Brown. I did a cameo in that. And the last year, he came to my golf tournament last year, came to church with us after the tournament. The next morning, just a good Christian brother. I did something in West Angeles and L.A. with him last year, or the year before last. And, man, it just seemed like last year, the year before last, he was around, we were around each other a lot.

And I was like, man, this is cool. I bumped into him at Marcus Allen's golf tournament. And I said, what's up, man? And then we kept in touch. And we just was bumping into each other everywhere, man. And then doing stuff together. So I thank God that I had to spend some good time with him before he passed, man. Good brother.

He was a great guy. And to take a joke, I remember in 90, it was the Super Bowl in Atlanta, the first Super Bowl in Atlanta. I met him in the hotel. And he walked up to me we started talking carrying on conversation like what you doing i'm like i don't know i don't know he's like well hey well let's kick it tonight so we you know he and i if he and i and we going all though we go to different places and i and he i didn't really you know i was like okay you know he has one green eye and a brown eye yeah yeah i'm gonna see you know so we joking and he's backing up i was like bro look over the other shoulder coming the one that you

looking at you're gonna call somebody he's like man look here man i ain't known for your jokes but he started laughing and we started we kept a relationship going but he's just a great guy he really he really was man just a good good good-hearted person good christian brother man and we're gonna miss him man we're gonna miss him good guy man let's let's talk about let's talk about friday that was really your first that was your breakout role i mean you would you know you were a comedian and a lot of people knew you but that was the role that put chris tucker on the map how much of that did you get the ad lib and how much of it was scripted that you like nah I need to do it like this in order to make it neat yeah a lot of it man a lot of it because uh you know I knew I had to make it special I had to so you know uh spend

some time to develop the character you know so I can make it you know make it special. I had to, you know, spend some time to develop the character, you know, so I can make it, you know, make it interesting and make an impact, man. But when I got the script, it was like 60 pages. But they were writing it, writing at the same time. And by the time we got on the set, it was done. The script was done. But the director gave me free range and Ice Cube gave me free range to come up with stuff on the set because they knew I came from stand up and, you know, I'm in the moment a lot and I come up with stuff. So, man, a lot of it was was was in the moment stuff. And it was because, you know, it was just a great environment. Great, great actors, man.

Like I said, Tiny was just great when he came up on that screen. We really were scared. I was scared. I was like, whoa, whoa. I remember this part of the script. And I was like, you know, tucking my stuff in. He really made me act for good. And Cube, of course, it was Cube.

And you know, everybody in that movie made that movie work, man. And I'm just happy and blessed to be a part of it, have been a part of it. Did you know it was gonna be what it became? Did you think in the moment when you're doing that movie, you're like, this is it. This is going to be a blockbuster. Did you know?

No, I didn't know, but I knew I was prepared because I got up, man. I got in the mirror. I said, this is my shot. It wasn't about money. It wasn't about, it was about the opportunity. And I try to tap into that now, you know, at this point in my career, it was just about the opportunity. And I said, this is my shot. I try to tap into that uh now you know at this point in my career it was just about the opportunity and I said this is my shot I gotta be ready when I gotta know my lines and when I'm on that set whatever comes for me I'm gonna be ready for I'm not gonna let not one

moment go past me funny moment or whatever reaction and I was I know I was prepared and I said if I'm prepared and you know I I didn know, I knew good things can happen from that. That's all I knew. I was prepared. I was ready. But did you know by playing that role so well, there could never be another Smokey other than you? That's not a role that someone else could play.

That's not a role that someone else can do. No matter how many Fridays, there could never be another Smokey. Did you know you had put together that type of performance I did not know I had no clue I knew that that uh it was felt good and it was working and and I was in the because when you're in the moment you don't you don't know what you're doing you just like it's just work you know you're just feeling good about it and stuff coming out of you it's like God takes over and and you're just going and that's all i knew that i i was ready and i was excited about it and uh because that you know i wanted to i was auditioning for tv shows because i was on the

road so much i was ready to get off the road and get into movies and get a bigger audience because i was going to see you have to see the same cities you know in the same year you know i was making a living but I was like I gotta move to the next level and I was back then I was just so sensitive to that I knew I was like this is the time to be on tv or movies and I always wanted to do movies and I got it got Fridays when I came out of audition for another movie I was up against D.L. Hughley D.L. got the part on tv but when I was walking out my manager's assistant said but you got Fridays uh we just found out you got Fridays we don't know if you got this yet but I know uh all I but when I was walking out, my manager's assistant said, but you got Fridays. We just found out you got Fridays. We don't know if you got this yet, but I know, all I knew was I was

prepared. So I try to always be prepared for stuff. You go back and we look at Friday and we look at some of the comedians that were in Friday. Bernie Mac was the pastor. John Witherspoon was pops. What was it like working with those guys on the set oh my god Bernie Ray was also in that movie oh yeah Renaldo Ray oh man it was just one of that was the highlights for me working with Bernie and and Mr. Witherspoon John Witherspoon I told the director I said I gotta have a scene with with Mr. Witherspoon John Witherspoon I gotta have a scene he said all right we'll write something in all right and every day I was bugging him like what what what what scene now because this is gonna be forever and this is this

man is a legend he said i got the scene you're gonna go up to him and you're gonna tell me you gotta use the bathroom he's gonna slam the door on you i said that's all i need i just want that moment he gave it to me bernie i was just always a big fan of his i never seen somebody tear up a room a comedy theater like Bernie Mac, man. I went to the Wilton in Atlanta and I got a school. I got a schooling. I got a lesson from Bernie. Bernie tore the room up, man. It was like the Holy Ghost was in there, man. It was like church. It was like a picnic. It was like a family reunion. I never seen anything like that.

So he's always been one of my favorite comedians. Him, Robin Harris, Richard Fryer, you know, Eddie Murphy. Those got Bill Cosby, all those guys, some of my favorite comedians him robin harris richard fryer you know eddie murphy those got bill cosby all those guys been some of my greatest favorite one of my favorite scenes is when bernie mack comes up he's the pastor and uh you and q y'all was smoking on the porch and he said he needs a little support glaucoma and he's talking about at the church on oh what was it uh he said we're talking about his church is about's about the sheriff. And you said about Normandy and West. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the twin, twin, twin! Yeah!

So, that was all in the moment. Was that in the script, or did you ad-lib that part? I ad-libbed it. I ad-libbed it, man, because one thing about when the camera stopped, we still was having fun it was like you got bernie mack on the set with me and john witherspoon and ice cube we were still having fun you know at ice cube you know i grew up listening to his music so it was like i

was fascinated you know sitting next to him so we're talking about stories and stuff so we was we was just having fun man i was in a good mood and we was like coming up with stuff every two seconds you know even when we weren't filming it was a lot of that stuff was great. You do the movie. Is the success beyond success? Beyond success? Beyond successful? Did you do such a great job you priced yourself out of the sequel or did you do such a great job? You priced yourself out of the sequel or did you not want to come back or did you want to move on and say, I did that, I'm done with that.

I want to go to something else. I wanted to move on. Because when I did something, I never wanted to do it again. I was like, back then, I was all about going to the next level. Like I said, I had a good sense of like, okay, now it's time to go do an action movie.

Whatever it is, you know. So when they asked me to do a Fridays, I was like, nah, nah, I want to go do something else. We done did that. You know, because studios think about the money and then users like, oh, we can make some more money with this. I was thinking about my career saying, no, I want to go do Money Talks or something.

Let me do my own movie with Charlie Sheen. I did that movie instead. That was one of the people who bought Money Talks. Oh, thank you, man. saying no i want to go do money talks or something let me do my own movie with charlie sheen i did that movie instead that was like money talks oh thank you man thank you we had some fun charlie's my boy man he's still my boy but yeah it was all it was for me it was about going to the next level keep keep uh you know going to the next time they couldn't believe i didn't want to do another one but i was just and i was right when i think back on it i was like it's time to do something new we did that and i did everything i can do and i was prepared and i'm satisfied with it let's go to the next one do you believe had you done a second friday that would have people

would have looked at you and said that's the only type of movies he can do i think it uh would have would have probably diminished diminished the first one because sometimes you can't get something out of certain movies. You can't get nothing else out of it. But they were able to do it with Fridays 2 and 3. They figured out a way to do it. But I just was where I was, and I think it's the right way to do it at that time and not to go back on it because, you know, then it became

a classic. And so, you know, I didn't, you know, I didn't mess with it. I'm glad I didn't mess with it. But something like, you know, rush hour movies, action movies, it's a little bit more easier to do one, two, and three. And then they offered me $25 million. I said, well, you know what, let's get off of your morals for a minute and go

ahead and do it. No, no, no. It made sense because I knew that we could do something else with it. And it was, you know, it was what it was, you know, the rush hours and stuff. Can you believe of all the things that you've accomplished that people still go back and they talk about Friday and they quote you from Friday and they do all these things? Can you believe the staying power that you've had in that movie? No, man. I, you know, I never, you know, sometimes when God bless you, man, you eat blessing more than what you can even dream. And that's one of those things. Cause

it was just a small movie. We filmed it in 20 days and I didn't get, you know, about $10,000 for it or whatever. I didn't care. I just was, I wanted the opportunity. But I can't believe. How much you got? I got about $10,000 because the movie costs, they told, well, they got different stories, but it was either 2 million or 3 million to do. We only, I know we had 20 days because the director reminded me every day. We got 20 days, man, because you better not mess up. We only had two takes. We can only take two takes. That means, you know, I can only can only do my lines twice if i mess up one time you get one more time and that's it we're gonna cut your part so i knew we and we was on a street one street the whole time and then we

went some stuff in the studio little scenes in the studio like bedroom scenes like that right but we it was it was that small of a movie but the that was the beauty of it because it allowed me to get into the character it wasn't no big distractions, like big movie sets. You got light people and sound people, everybody wanted to be a star. But that movie was just a camera and me and Cube on the porch. And then magic came out of it.

Thank God. And now with the advent of the internet, you see all the smoky impersonations. You see all this this you got knocked out you see uh you know you see everybody you're doing this yeah gabrielle union and d wade reenacted one of your scenes oh oh yeah yeah they did they did an unbelievable job oh i'm getting that i gotta see that i gotta see that so i look at you and when you had the part with Faze I Love, Big Worm, I mean Big Purr.

Yeah. That was, I mean, that was some great acting. I mean, it was just like. Thank you. How were you able to do, because you went from like, you're smoking next to Cube, smoking, doing with Bernie Mac, smoking, talking to Pop, smoking, talking to Q's mom, to now all of a sudden it's you and you leaning in the car and you trying to shite somebody's money.

You know, how did you go from this, this, because like you said, you only had 20 days to shoot this entire movie. Yeah. Well, the beauty about the scene with me and Big Worm with Faison Love, we were best friends. So we clowned around all day, every day, you know, going to the comedy clubs at night, every night going to different comedy clubs performing.

We clowned around every day. So it was so easy to work with him, but we were laughing a lot. Faison would laugh all the time cause he looking at me like, look at him trying to be serious. Because I had to stay in character. I would make him laugh off camera because he was making me laugh.

So it was so easy because we were friends. And to get that stuff good. And then Bernie Mac, of course, you know, he's one of my heroes. Fan. I was a fan of him. So everybody I had a connection with, watching John Witherspoon and, you know, watching Q growing up with his music.

So everybody, it was just, every time I was with him, I was excited and it was just easy to do. It was easy. How did you come up with the line when the girl that Q, Nia Long's character, Q had a crush on her and she said she has a friend that she want to hook you up with. Yeah. And she said she kind of looked like Janet Jackson. Yeah. OK, so how did you come up with that part? Was that written in or did you add Janet Jackson more like Freddie Jackson?

Well, that was written in that that part was written. But on the phone, when I got on the phone with her, like, yeah, you know what, Debbie live, right? All that was just me saying, OK, I'm on the phone with somebody. Nobody was on the other line. And I'm like, okay, all right, girl, control. That was all me. And then I – Because she had told you it was Janet Jackson. Yeah, that's Janet Jackson, but that's all me.

And then I auditioned on the part of the girl. When I walk up to the girl and I find out she wasn't what I thought she was, that's how I got Fridays because I was like, I know you're hungry. You know, my mama don't like a lot of people with me when I pick them up. No, oh, want to, want to. And then she take the wig off.

Damn, all that was how I got the part. I just made that up in the room and they wrote it down when I was auditioning. Give me your top five hood classics of all time. Ooh, New Jack City. New Jack time. Ooh, New Jack City. New Jack City, I like New Jack City. Boys in the Hood. Boys in the Hood.

The Mac. Mac. And I'm going, well, you talking about hood classics. Ugh, because I always say Scarface is a hood classic to me, because I love Scarface. We grew up, we accidentally saw that in Madden Day when we were kids. My mom and dad didn't even know what we were watching. We was gone. They sent us to the movie and I said,

whoa, this is acting. I thought I was in, you know, a whole big old drug world with that. But the other one could be offhand, maybe Menace to Society. Oh, Uptown Saturday Night. Uptown Saturday Night. Let's do it again those in there

you ain't gonna put friday in there oh yeah yeah you know what i gotta put my movie in there yeah it's hard to have a hood classic any of the mount rushmore any of them without friday being in it thank you man good look at our big bro you that's right. That's right. You grew up in Atlanta. What was it growing up in Atlanta during the time? And what did you want to be when you were growing up? You know, I was blessed, man. I found out early, you know, that I like entertainment. You know, going to the movies, seeing Stir Crazy with Richard Pryor in it and Gene Wilder. Gene Wilder walking down the prison talking about we bad we bad I was just fascinated when the when when Richard Pryor came on the scene Eddie Murphy in 48 hours you know he was in the prison like case case you know and I was like you know so I and then I when I go to

when I went to school uh you know I'm the youngest of six kids. So I watched a lot. I observed a lot because, you know, you can't say nothing. You're the youngest and all. You got three older brothers, two sisters. They say, shut up. I was like, what? You know, so I just watched them. You know, it was, and I watched them make mistakes. You know, they did, they get a whooping. I'll be like, what'd they do? I don't want to get a whooping when I get older like that. What happened? I didn't take out the garbage. I'm like, I'm going to make sure I take out the garbage when it's my turn. Shoot. Daddy told you not.

Good God. So I learned a lot at a young age. And then, you know, it was just comedy all around us. Because you know a big family. It's always something. People trying to get in the bathroom. Get out of the bathroom, girl. We're trying to go to school.

And mama, shut up. What y'all mean all that now? So it was always something going on in the house. And I was just around funny stuff. And I didn't even know it. And I was funny, I guess, too. And I went to school. And people were saying, man, you're funny.

Man, you're like Eddie Murphy or something. I'm like, what you talking about? And then I don't dress up for pee. I will preach to the whole, everybody who didn't dress up in the bleachers. I'll be like, all right, get your books, your Bibles out. And I would make them laugh for about 30 minutes. Even the teacher would come over there and be like, what right, get your books, your Bibles out. And I would make them laugh for about 30 minutes. Even the teacher would come over there and be like, what is going on? This fool.

And then they said, you need to host a talent show because you got something. I said, well, how much are they paying? Are they paying anything? Do they get some good grades or something? No, you just go. So I got like $30 to host a talent show. I told my first joke. They laughed.

I said, this is it. This is what I'm going to do because, you know, school wasn't easy. They laughed. I said, this is it. This is what I'm going to do. Because, you know, school wasn't easy for me. So I said, I ain't going to college. I barely got out of high school. I'm going to finish this right now. I'm lucky I got out of here. So, yeah.

You went to Columbia, which is in Decatur, right? Yeah, Decatur in Georgia, yeah. In Decatur? Decatur? Now, y'all have some athletes. That was that track Gwen Torrance went and Decatur, Decatur, now y'all have some athletes. That was a, that track, Gwen Torrance went to Decatur, went to Columbia.

Yeah, I know, you know, I know, I know a little bit of, they had awesome track, track program off the chain. That's right. That's right.

She graduated with my brother or sister, older sister. Yeah. So what was, I mean, you went to a school that was very,

that had good high school athletic program. You never wanted to play sports? I did play sports. I wanted to go pro like you, but I broke both of my wrists in practice. That was it? That was God saying, you better go figure something else out. I jumped up, man, to catch a ball or two, you know, just to catch.

And we were just throwing, getting ready for practice. I jumped up and instead of coming down on my butt bone, I oh i'm gonna brace myself broke both of my wrists and even the doctors was laughing they're like how did you do this i said man just take me to the doctor take to the hospital and that's when i quit i said i said i need to do something else but yeah man i love sports and you know wanted wanted to be go pro like everybody else. But you realize at a very young age. So doing the comedic thing when you were in high school or coming up, was it to make people laugh or to make sure people weren't laughing at you? Because I have a funny side, but I used to talk with a lisp.

And what I found at a very young age, that if I made other people laugh at someone else they wouldn't notice what I got going on and so I could keep them up off me yep yep yeah yeah it was it was uh see I probably would have talked about you see I probably not I'm joking no I was one of them guys that I would just make people laugh because it was really because I didn't really want to do the work and some of the work was hard for me I was like shoot man what y'all doing? Hey, hey, hey. You know, I'd be messing with people who done studied, done did their homework.

Hey, man, come on. Give me some answers. And they'd be like, shut up. Come on. I will. Shut up if you're giving me answers. Teacher looking right at us, fool. I was one of those.

But I would make people laugh because, you know, it was easy to do. So I would be like, I just started up. Get the class going. laugh because they you know it was easy to do so i feel like i just started up and get get get the class going so how old were you or when did you start doing the eddie murphy and michael jackson impressions man eddie murphy from from high school you know he was the man for me and uh and michael too as a kid oh man i remember my play brother up the street used to dance just like Michael Jackson. He had the prettiest girlfriend. I said, man, I want to be like this dude here.

And I want to dance like Michael, like he danced. So we always had dance Michael Jackson contests. And he brought down Eddie Murphy's Delirious that he did on HBO. Because he had cable before they put the cable down in the street while we lived down the street by the circle he already had cable and had a VCR because he was the only child we weren't you know we had to wait you know yeah I had the stereo you've been with the stereo so he had all that stuff he brought the lyrics down and it was over we got cable right when Rocky 3 became what came out on HBO and we like, watch Rocky III and the lyrics all day.

And we just had a ball. So what's your go-to lines when you're going to impersonate Eddie, you're going to impersonate Mike? What's your line? What's your go-to? Well, Eddie, you know, I just talk like, like, I'll do the laugh. Man, you crazy. So what's up? What what's up he's a little older than that but he talked a little like what's up man how you doing bro he just talked low and rich

but michael i would go chris what what are you what are you doing chris what what's chris how are you how are you what i talked to him so kind when you a lot of people some people don't like when they get mimicked or they get made so how was it when they found that you were doing it and then you saw them for the first time oh michael michael loved it because i heard from his nephews that he was a big fan of mine because they showed him the movies he's uh they showed him the movies and michael was uh was loved it man because he knew everything I did had a little bit of Michael in it right it was from Fridays I'm dancing on the porch in the montage doing Michael dance uh money talks rush hour doing uh the the karaoke thing and uh even

um in um a death jam I talked about Michael what ifael was a pimp so he knew that if we had kindred spirits or something and i was a big fan for sure you said some of your early influences was eddie murphy richard prior who are some of the other comedians when you were growing up you're like okay i like his style well definitely bernie mack i guess bernie mack was just just funny naturally funny. Robin Harris. I didn't get a chance to meet him, but I heard his albums, and I saw him in the movies, Spike Lee movies and different movies like that.

I just thought they were – I like naturally funny comedians. And today, of course, you know, Dave Chappelle, you know, a friend of mine, people like that it's just just just just make me laugh uh uh they gotta be fun so what was it like performing on the comedy tour in atlanta because atlanta had used i don't know if it's still like it like uh like this now but atlanta used to have a bunch of comedy places uptown comedy store right there on Peachtree. I used to go there all the time. Yeah, yeah. It's still, man, it's so many funny young brothers out there, man. You can't even count them on one hand, man, on one hand.

And it's still strong. And they're still doing comedy. I mean, even during the pandemic, man, they're still out there. Comedy clubs still open. People ain't stopping, man. So, yeah, man, I can't wait to see who else is out there. But we definitely got a good track record of a lot of great comedians coming out of Atlanta. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal.

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Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What made you decide to move to L.A. and not New York to do your comedy? Because everybody, all the comedians was coming down to the Comedy Act Theater, and they were coming from L.A., like D.L. Hughley and Jamie Foxx, and all those guys would come down, and they would see me open up for them at times. And they were like, man, you need to go to LA. You work, you're pretty good.

You can get there. And I was like, okay, you really think so? They was like, yeah, man, you need to go to LA. So I knew that LA was the place for the movies and television and all that stuff. And New York was more theatrical. So that's what made me go out to la so what was it like your your mom you're like okay i'm gonna go i'm finna mom i'm finna mom dad i'm finna i'm

finna go it alone i'm finna i'm finna dip what were your emotions like because you know you know that's not like i got a job lined up i I'm going out there. I'm going to work. You're going to do comedy. You got to get called. You got to get called back. You got to get readings. There's no guarantee any of this is going to happen. Yeah.

Yeah, they were, you know, my mom and daddy was so, so supportive. But they probably were so happy I found something that I was going to do. My mama thought I was going to live with her forever. And she right. Because I built her a house and I stay with her right now she's right but uh she said i just i just thought you'd go be with me baby you know i was just gonna help you out but uh i was fortunate enough man to to uh have i knew somebody in la and i think i moved with my girlfriend from high school father lived in la so i had a place to stay.

My mama felt comfortable about where I was going because she knew I wasn't going to be out there by myself. So it was just God, man. It worked out. So in other words, you kept the girlfriend from high school so you have a place to stay when you came in here with her father, huh? Oh, no.

She was fine. I wasn't trying to leave her. I was like, baby, could you just ask your dad? Because I didn't think he was going to agree with it. Like, you crazy going to be living up in my house with my daughter sleeping with my daughter? No. But he was cool with it. He was like, yeah, come on, gentlemen, come on out. And it was just

things just fell into place. As soon as I graduated from high school, a comedy club opened up, Comedy Act Theater where Robin Harris and everybody came from. And then when I was ready to move to L.A., my girlfriend's father was living out there already. And I asked him, can we go? I thought he was going to say no, when i was ready to move to la my girlfriend father was living out there already and uh i told asked can we go i thought he was gonna say no and i was gonna have

to get another plan he said yeah it's okay they kicked me out two months later but uh i had i had two months to find a roommate and i was and then i was out i was on the road rolling in because i was they were coming home from work i was just getting up on the couch because i was out all night on the comedy club and they would come home from work and I'd be like, hey, getting up off the couch. His wife at the time, his new wife, was like, uh-uh. He need to go. He need to go. He ain't paying no rent.

And he's just sleeping all day. So then I found me a roommate and that's the rest is history. What are some of the advice that you would give young and up-and-coming comedians? Trust your, you knowians trust your you know uh trust your dreams man go after your dreams i went after mine and it all happened even more than i ever could imagine happened uh but you know every moment was a surprise and when a door when they when a door closed another one opens up like i was telling you i was going for a TV show. I didn't get that, but I walked out of that audition. I got Fridays. So don't get frustrated when the door closed. Just look at, find the positive in it and keep moving, but keep working. Like Marvin Gaye says, stay on the floor

and keep dancing because that's the only way somebody's going to see you for the next part. And when you're working, even if it's something small, somebody might see you and say, oh, part and when you when you're working even if it's something uh small somebody might see and say oh you got to look for the next part so you got to just keep doing what you can do to to keep going to you know to get to where you want to go was death comedy jam the show because i remember dl ended up i think dl ended up hosting that and some of the great comedians have come through there martin lawrence was was the host for a while dave chappelle bernie mack steve harv i mean so many yeah what was it what was it like auditioning being on death comedy jam did you know a lot of the brothers and sisters that you were out there against were going to turn out to be what they later became you know i was on the same show as b Mac. He was the headliner. And I started my first Def Jam. And I went up and I thought I blew the place away. I thought that, you know, there was nobody going to follow me. And I went upstairs, you know, used the bathroom, I was thinking New York, wherever we were. And I saw a guy up there and I said, hey, man, you a comedian or something? He said, yeah. I said, what's your name? I'm Bernie Mac. I said, oh, okay, you going up? He said, yeah, I'm going up. I said, I thought you know, that was the reason why, you know,

they got me for Fridays. They saw, you know, I was rising up on Def Jam and Def Jam Tour and all that stuff. So that was my first big platform. And then Fridays, you know, was the movie stuff platform. Give me your Mount Rushmore comedians.

You only get four. Your four best comedians all time. Richard Pryor, Robin Harris, Eddie Murphy. I got to say Bill Cosby. Those guys. Those guys. I'm just saying the guys you left off, not that it's right or wrong.

You left off Chappelle. You left off Seinfeld. You left off Lenny Bruce. You left off uh seinfeld you left off uh lenny bruise you left off red fox yeah yeah well those guys now red fox is up there too but he was way before i could i well i know all about him because i do comedy and i studied him but and chapelle is in my generation so he's all that that level with with me and he's one of the greatest. Don't let me, don't be mistaken. But ain't none of them gonna touch Richard. Ain't none of us gonna ever touch Richard. Ain't none of us gonna ever touch Robin Harris.

Ain't none of us gonna ever touch Eddie Murphy in movies and standup. And Bill Cosby, he's one of the greatest. Richard Pryor used to imitate Bill Cosby. And then I gotta say Dick Gregory. So it's it's so many man it's so good do you believe that had robin and bernie lived longer they would have had a greater place in uh uh in the comedic hierarchy oh for sure robin harris was about to be out of this world he would have been been like Eddie and up there and probably big, just as big as Eddie. And Bernie was going,

it wasn't anything he couldn't do. Drama, comedy, he was going, he was there. He was already there too, because he stayed here longer. So yeah, those guys, they own that Mount Rushmore for sure, man. So when you write jokes, do you just sit down? I mean, so how, how does it

happen? I mean, so, you know, I've talked to rappers and entertainers and they says, okay, if I'm going to write a song, you know, I might be laying down, I wake up and I start writing, or I might be eating and something come into my head and I just put it down and start writing. How do you write jokes? How long does it take you, take you to write a set? Yeah. It takes it, you know, when it takes it you know when it comes to me when it comes to me i usually don't sit down and think of stuff i let it come to me and then i'll write it down or i will get in uh you know get in a mood or something and then it just all come to me and it's like whatever wherever it is uh wherever i'm, or if I go to the comic club that night, some come to me.

But yeah, I jot down stuff throughout the year. But I just let it come to me because so much stuff just comes. And then I keep, some stuff I let go and some stuff I keep. Was it a difficult transition to go from standup to acting? And is it a natural transition that a lot of comedians

have gone on to be actors from red fox to richard pratt to eddie murphy yourself uh bernie mack robin harris i mean so many guys uh sandy entertainer bruce i mean so many guys yeah yeah it's it's it's a total it's totally it's totally different stand up and acting is totally different you have to like in stand up you're more animated and you're more wired in the movies you got to tone all that down and then you got to come up when you when you need to come down when you need to i noticed that when i started doing acting i said oh man i gotta take this down you know because they got your your head and a 100 you know uh close up and you move it all around here i'm like i can't do that here i gotta calm down right here and look you know a certain way so you gotta adapt to that and then also you gotta

go deeper because you're playing a part and then you gotta you know you got you gotta go deeper than uh than uh stand up stand up is you it's it's your life and it's hard to at times but acting it's another level it's another level but you're using that act when you got that comedy tool and take it to acting it's it's good have you ever forgot a line while you're doing stand-up oh all the time all the time but stand-up so good because you got the audience right there and something might happen you might ask ask a question, and boom, that breaks you into a whole other thing, and then you go back to whatever you forgot, and you're good again.

But stand-up ain't nothing like stand-up. I love stand-up. What are some of the obstacles that you had to overcome? Were there doors slammed in your face? Were there opportunities that you felt you were deserving of that you didn't get and you're like man i don't know this might not be for me because they be bull jiving you know what that that i've been blessed man it was like uh for me uh you know things doors was just opening it was just it was just god because like i said a death jam i lost i was in a competition i lost the competition because i

didn't have enough time for the second round but the def jam producer ran backstage and he saw me he said man i want you on the first step jam you perfect what we want for that jam all you need to do is seven minutes five minutes i was like like like when i got fridays it was like i was sad and i was happy again it was like when the door closed another door opened and then uh when i went to um the comedy club down here when it first opened i was too young to get in they had a liquor license the manager uh he let me in because i would just kept hanging around the front door and then ricky harris another comedian he was headlining one weekend and he said he told the manager let him in or he wasn't coming into work so he was late already so gary the manager said let him in you better not drink that though but i so i went in

and i didn't drink and uh you know he didn't see me drink but i went in and i made sure that and you know doors was just open was always obstacles but you know god opened those doors for me i'm looking at a house party house party 3 in 1994 kid and play tisha camber bernie mack uh lisa left out lopez rest her soul marcus houston eddie griffin what was that what was that like what was that set like that that was a great set man and i was only there for like two days and that was really my first movie role when i did that and uh and um and then at the premiere i told you that's how i got my agent he came up to me and said man you got an agent because he i guess he saw my little part

that i did in house party 3 but i played a part johnny booze and man i just uh i had to do something real quick because i only had like a second to make make the character to do something so it was uh it was it was a lot of fun, man. It was just, you know, animated and, you know, Johnny Boo's character and just came up with something real quick, man. And it stayed in the movie. So it was good. Dead Presidents, another hood classic. You worked with Lorenz Tate.

How was that? Oh, man, so much fun. I worked with the Hughes brothers, Lorenz Tate, my buddy, Volkeen Whitbine, so many other greats, man. It was awesome, man. So much fun working with the Hughes brothers, Lorenz Tate, my buddy, Volkeen Whitbine, so many other greats, man. It was awesome, man. The music they had, you know, in the movie and playing around the set and, you know, it was a time, a period piece. We had so much fun, man. And it got me to show another side of me, serious side, playing that character, Skippy, in Dead President. So I was happy to do that soccer show. At the same time, I had Fridays out that year in 1995 with comedy.

And then on the other side, I had Dead Presidents with a serious side. So I was happy to show both sides of me. Did you ever worry about being typecast? Not at that time. But I never worried about it at all because i know what i could do you know a lot of people might haven't saw a lot of it yet uh but i i never worry about because i know like uh once they you know once i do something different they can be like oh okay i i knew he could do it but i just wanted to see it like when i did civil honors playbook that was you know that

was a smaller part but it was different more dramatic and then of course yeah President but you know that's always on the back of our minds that you know you don't want to be typecast you know can I ask you a question? do typecast actors cash checks? that's right they do

they do that's right Jim Carrey made a lot of money playing them pet detectives that's right. Jim Carrey made a lot of money playing them pet detectives. That's right. Playing liar, liar. He made a lot of money. He sure did. That's right.

You know, you do what you do best. And, you know, if you can do something else, that's great. But, hey, if that's all you can do and you're doing good at it, that's okay. You mentioned 95 you had the Fridays and Dead President, but 97 might have been one of your best years because you have money talk you have fifth element uh jackie brown yeah what was 97 like for you 97 was fun man it was it was doing you know i was producing money talks with charlotte sheen my own movie and that was another level uh and it was great you know being around great actors like

charlotte sheen and paul savino who that was in money talks that it was great you know being around great actors like charlie sheen and paul savino who that was in money talks that movie and then i worked with quentin tarantino and samuel jackson and that jackie brown that was fun uh because quentin's great great writer you know he just whatever the words he write you can just say right from the page because it sound like you're talking so that was you know fun and a learning experience. And Fifth Element was great because I went to Europe, working with Luc Besson, one of the greatest French directors ever. And, you know, out there, man, having fun. And on this big set, you know, playing a crazy character, man,

that I could go all the way, you know, as far as I want, you know, in that character, Ruby Rod, you know, space character. That was just a gift. And I was scared to do it. But once I got in that outfit and got going, you know, space character, that was just a gift and I was scared to do it. But once I got in that outfit and got going, I said, man, this is going to be fun. And it turned out to be one of my favorite characters. Which is harder, producing, directing a movie, acting in the movie and which do you like better?

I like acting in a movie and having some, a little bit of say, so a little bit of control uh and that's what mostly you know if you get an executive producer uh uh whatever uh you know credit you know that because you want to have a little bit of like let's show you can make the movie better only because you want to participate you want to uh make make the project a movie better so i would say um you know the acting is is the hardest and it's the for me it's the most rewarding thing to do because that's what i do best i think you've been on the set with a lot of great actors charlie sheen bruce willis samuel l jackson robert de niro which one of those guys are those uh or any of those who brought out the best chris chris tucker i would, man, I would say Charlie Sheen,

because he was just a nice, he's just a nice guy. He made sure I got first credit. I never forget that they, you know, the studio wanted him to be first credit at the time because he was, you know, a big star. He said, no, you brought this project. You should be, your name should be first. You, you should be the man.

You should be up front. So I was you you should be the man you should be up front so i was i never forgot that young kid somebody like on his level uh so you know telling the studio no this is his movie i'm just starting i'm you put me second credit so i always remember charlie for that and then of course uh you know uh jackie chan you know just having fun with him and and growing up watching his movies too and and i knew i could be man uh be funny and be physical and all that stuff in rush hour so i knew that was a great um uh vehicle for me man to show show show my um talents i've had some rappers on here and they say when they collab or someone has them on a feature they're trying to kill it yeah i know this is your album this is your song but i'm trying to kill you on your own song yeah when you're in a movie or you're in a scene with an actor are you

trying to like yeah i know this is your movie but they're gonna remember me you know what no because i i gotta get feed i gotta get feedback for people like like when i was in money talks and and um what's his name? Savino. Paul Savino working with a great actor like that. The key is working with other great actors because they're going to give you some stuff and it's going to bring the best out of you. You know, Charlie Sheen, you know, great actor.

If you're working with great actors, man, they're going to bring it out of you and you're going to be like, whoa, and you'll be in the moment more. And acting is a little different because it's teamwork, know like football team it's teamwork you want to we want to work with the best and the best directors rush hour why and did you know it was gonna be what they became uh no it was the same thing when i did fridays i did the first rush hour uh never wanted to do another one because that was just like i never even thought like that i was like just do a great job with this one and move on do another great job for another movie uh but you know like i said they all i didn't have nothing on the table at the time and they offered me another one for the

rush hour two and uh then i said all right i'll just do it i don't have nothing at that time and we did it and we had fun with that one and uh with the the third one uh you know same thing that happened but no i didn't know it was gonna be franchise a franchise and i appreciate it and i'm glad that it had enough legs to to go you know last that last like that but uh yeah i didn't know so because that was really like the first time you like you could be you you could still be funny but you had a more of a drama you was actually like a detective you're like james carter was actually trying to catch somebody yeah yeah and that was like a movie that i grew up watching eddie murphy beveling his cop 48 hours so there were things that i always

dreamed of like man i got to get to that level you know one day you know like like like my heroes uh childhood heroes richard pryor and his movies and stuff so yeah what type of physical shape do you need to be in to do those type of movies did you do any of your own stunts do you like doing your own stunts i did all of my stunts in the first rush hour i made sure i got in shape because i knew that you know jackie chan did his own stunts by watching you know researching him and and watching that you know him saying i do my own stunt so i made sure i got in shape and for the second one i made sure i got even more better shape because work you know action

movies it's a lot it's a lot it's a lot go on the set, you might be there all day because they gonna need you to fall or jump off something and this, that, that. So it takes action movies, you need to be in shape. And you're working in the middle of the night sometimes, early in the morning, so you wanna be healthy enough to be able to have that energy that you can, you know, come across on the screen and physical stuff you need to do, you know, to make the scene work.

How did you get paired with Jackie Chan and Rush Hour? And I read what Jackie Chan says, like when he first met you, he wasn't so sure about you. Yeah, because it was, well, I was doing movies with New Line Cinema and Jackie, I think they bought a lot of his movies. New Line bought a lot of his movies that he did overseas in Hong Kong. And they had a relationship with him.

And then they had a relationship from Fridays and Money Talks with me. And me and my manager at the time, we was looking for something bigger and seeing what the studio had. And they said, well, we want to partner up with somebody else. They said, well, we got Jackie Chan's got a project. But somebody, they're looking at somebody else. I think it was Wesley Snipes, Martin Lawrence, and a few other people. And they said, they're looking at other people, but maybe, maybe, you know, he might, it might work. So we went out there, tried to get this script, the Rush Hour script and do the movie with Jackie. And it came together because one of the producers

wanted me in the movie they wanted somebody who a fresh face just like in Fridays they wanted a fresh face somebody who wasn't already established uh and I got the role I got the part with uh Rush Hour because we had a history with New Line and Jackie was working with them and they put us together so that's how that happened did you know the magic that you guys would create? Did you know it would be this when you two guys got together? I felt it because I was comfortable around Jackie because he was humble. He still is great guy, great man.

And of course, he was a hero of mine because Jackie Chan was cool. But I knew that I could say whatever I wanted to say around him, and we had good chemistry from the start. So I think out of that, great things happened. In 2006, you negotiated a contract, $25 million for Rush Hour. You were the first, I think think if i'm not mistaken to to crack that threshold did did it add pressure on being the highest paid actor at the time in entertainment what what was going through your mind here the black kid from atlanta georgia

former stand-up and now i'm the highest paid. I didn't go to Juilliard. I didn't go to one of these prominent acting schools. I didn't go to Yale or this or that. But here it is, a Black kid from Atlanta, Black man now, and I'm the highest paid in the world. Yeah, you know, I didn't think of it, man. I was so, you know, I was so, like, back then, I said, after the success of the first Rush Hour, I said, well,

my movie made over $100-something million. Tom Cruise's movie made over $100-something. He's getting $20 million. I said, I need to get $20 million. So I just went in there and told the studio, I said, well, you know, if y'all want to do another one, I want $20 million. And they said, okay. Because they knew that it was going to make a whole bunch of money. And I felt like I was worth that because i knew this i knew the movie

was gonna make some more money too and i just was that i guess that's the business side of me that said go ahead and ask for it this is time to ask for it and they get do you wish you to throw out a high number no no because uh it worked out It worked out. Hold on. Did Eddie Murphy turn this movie down? No. Eddie was never attached to Rush Hours, you know. It was on, I think Martin was, they was considering Martin and Wesley. But, yeah, that was the only thing I heard.

But Eddie, I don't think he was ever involved. You've also had a lot of cameos in music videos. Yeah. I mean, anybody that's ever been around you, it's hard not to like you. You're an easy person to like because you're exactly what people would think you would be. I mean, when they see you in those movies, and they're like, I wonder how he is. And when people ask me, say, man, you know,

I'm like, yeah, I know Chris Tucker. What's he like? What you see on TV. He's exactly like that. I'm talking about nothing different. He's fun. He's that make you laugh. He's exactly what you think.

Whatever you thinking, that's what he is. Thank you, man. Thank you you i gotta be man no and that's that's all you can be you know just be you yep as i mentioned you you have a lot you like in tupac california love dr drake keep the heads ringing mace and our daddy feels so good what is it about me why they keep why they keep shouting you or having you in their video good yo man i guess it's the culture man because they know i love music and hip-hop r&b you like you and everybody video you dancing and everybody video you like hey i've been in a video we did it i like music man i like i like you know uh country i like uh

gospel i like everything man so it's just part of me. And that's part of my spirit, man. You know, I put music on and have fun, dance and laugh. And that keeps me happy. So it's a part of me. And then, you know, and the movies and the soundtracks come together. And, you know, with Keep Your Head Ring with Dr. Dre, that was on Fridays. come together and you know with uh keep your head ring with dr dre that was on fridays uh michael jackson we were friends and he i got into rock my world video which you know was a blessing you know uh because michael don't put everybody in the videos only a few chosen to be in his videos and i was and every time that song come on i got great memories to come back you know on that it seems like comedians are getting discovered a different way now, because now since the advent of social media, we see a lot of guys on IG, you know, doing little stuff, doing skits, and maybe they're doing TikTok or they're doing IG live. Yeah.

Are there some, some comedians, up and coming comedians that you look like, okay, this, this, this young brother, this young, this young female has a chance. You know what? I need to get on more and see who's out there because there's a lot of talented people out there, man. And one kid, I think you mentioned, and one kid imitates me on TikTok, man.

And I think that kid's just talented, man. But, and he's going to go far. But it's definitely a new platform. Like we had Def Jam and that got me into the movies. This is a platform that's getting a new platform. Like, we had Def Jam, and that got me into the movies. This is a platform that's getting a lot of people going to the next level. You know, like Justin Bieber got discovered doing something on social media, and then Drake, and, well, he did a little TV, too. But that's a new platform.

That's a new format. So that's what's going on. Yeah, the old comedians had Def Jam, had jam had comic view comic launched a lot of careers so so what what's the new media what's the new what's the new uh avenue for comedians to be what's the next def jam what's the next comic view um i think it's gonna continue to be uh something like TikTok and social media, man, and all that stuff, Twitter and all that. It's going to continue to be that for a while. And people are going to be discovered off of that and then go into, you know, of course, screaming, you know, on all the platforms like that, Netflix and Amazon Prime and HBO Max. And they're going to be selling shows and they're going to be buying them up, man,

because it's just wide open right now, which is good. You know, as you mentioned earlier, Tuck, the pandemic has been a blessing and a curse because now you're getting guys doing Netflix features for comedy, and they're getting a boatload of money. You just perform right there and and everything's taken care of and they just run it yeah yeah it's a blessing man because uh you know back in the day it was only hbo or showtime now you got you got so many different places you could take uh a comedy

uh special uh a show or something like that and so it's it's wide open if you got the talent and you're willing to do the work you you know you could get out there and make it in this business for sure how have you been you look at Dave Chappelle and he had it all he was on Comedy Central he's doing the sketch comedy and he was at the apex and he walked all he walked away from it and then gradually he took steps and he built it back up and And now he's back. You know, a lot of people believe that he's, he, right now he's the gold standard when it comes to comedians. How has his resurgence reinvigorated you? I mean, yeah, cause you know, he did the right thing.

He was uncomfortable with some something and he wanted his freedom to express himself in his art and he did the right thing and it and it helped him come back to where he is today and um and everything that he left on the table he got that and and double and more you know uh and we kind of got like some of the similar uh walk you know i kind of took long breaks and got my you know and lived my life and uh you know you know travel all over the world and grew up and uh you know and you know tour and been touring and stuff but and and ready to do more you know movies and all types of stuff i'm still young and can do that thank god and um so we kind

of got the same kind of walk and we we uh encourage each other in that in that in an aspect aspect and uh man you got to have time you got to grow and i think i truly believe art good art comes from your real life experiences and you don't have that balance and real life experiences like when we grew when i grew up that was all the friday stuff that was all the dev cam stuff now the stuff that i'll do from this point on is where i've been you know these last 20 years you know growing up i think if they were to remake friday and cube said they might they're thinking about it he says they're writing it right now would you want to come back in it and would you want to come back and smokey uh you know what i i you know it's people some people say do it some people say don't but for me

personally I probably won't because I never I never want to shortchange my audience and my fans because you know they I know they want it because that's what they know and they love it and I'm glad they love it but I don't want to come back in something that that I probably uh can't do what they what they want you know uh me to do because i've you know i've grown uh and not not only grown i'm different right right that's a that was a 25 that was a 23 24 year old chris tucker this is a whole different chris tucker there's a whole another chris tucker and you know you don't want to shortchange uh your fans for money and uh you know you don't try to and that's one thing i think and it's best to keep that and you know you don't want to shortchange uh your fans for money and uh you know you don't

try to and that's one thing i think and it's best to keep that one you know because i can't do what i did uh when i watch fridays now i'm like i can't i can't do that i was where i was and i was acting but now i'm in my 40s now uh i could do something even better because uh you like that character imagine what i'm gonna do uh in the future. You're from Atlanta, as I mentioned. The sports team in Atlanta haven't had the greatest success. We've got the Falcons. We've got the Braves. Shout out to Hank Aaron.

Hank Aaron. We're going to talk about him. As a matter of fact, let's talk about Hank. We just lost Hank early this morning. I think he was 86 years of age. Atlanta icon. When you think about legends of Atlanta, you think about, early this morning. I think he was 86 years of age. Atlanta icon. When you think about legends of Atlanta, you think about obviously Dr. King.

You think about Hank Aaron. You think about Andrew Young, Maynard Jackson, some of the greats. And now, 20 years from now, we're going to be thinking about Keisha Bottoms and we're going to think about our great mayor. Yes. Casey Abrams.

Casey Abrams. Casey Abrams. And Keisha Bottoms is the mayor right now, Torsha Brown. But talk about Hank because I know you had a personal relationship with Mr. Aaron. Oh, man. I've been blessed, man, to meet so many great legends. And we stand on the shoulders of so many greats, man. In my profession and in others, man. And I met, because I'm atlanta i had a chance to

meet mr aaron several times and you know and i was surprised he knew my name you know first like people like him and bill russell and jim brown and uh bill withers i you know i hung out with all these people because uh god blessed me to be in their in their circle in their world but you know i did his party last year his birthday party wife, Ms. Aaron invited me to go up and say some words, man. And I just, I just get a kick out of being around him. People like Ambassador Young and, you know, I called him on Martin Luther King weekend, but he was such a down to earth legend and icon, iconic person,

but he was so humble. And that's what I would always remember. He was a, Hey Chris, I'd be like, that's hank aaron he said my name you know and some people get me like that and he's one of them that he's just humble he he showed you that he cares and he don't wear this i'm hank aaron on my shoulder like a lot of people we know do and he never did that with me and always always just gave me that uh reinsurance like you're gonna be all right keep moving young man another atlanta icon we lost early also john lewis you you can't have him outrush more of legends in atlanta without putting john lewis on that on that plaque yeah man i call i called him also on uh you know a couple of weeks before he passed i you know i was praying

and i got up and said i'm gonna call john lew. And I got him on the phone. I was so surprised. I thought I was going to leave a message. And he said, yes. And I think I was just thanking him, thanking him for everything he's done. Like I called Ambassador Young and he just said, oh, no, thank you, young man. Thank you, young man. And I was, and I thank God I was able to talk to him before he passed. You was at Kobe's final game.

Yeah. Obviously, you know, Kobe, 20 years, he wasn't what he once was. But did you even, in your wildest imagination, envision that Kobe would go out in his last game and drop 60? Never, man. That dude was great for real.

He was great for real. And, you real and you know he's he would go down like the legends bruce lee and so many greats that's just mystery around their work ethic and and things they did to prepare to be great and uh i never thought that uh yeah he would score that many points but he just showed you know he had that anointing man and uh he was one of the greatest you like basketball i see you at the all-star games a couple of times construct give me your give me your starting five if you can build a team starting five any player past and present who you're starting five well bill russell because he know my name uh michael jordan okay uh colby magic and uh kareem you know what hold on how you gonna leave go james off the list you got all those

you got you ain't putting lebron on that oh oh man forgive you know what that's my boy too okay put lebron on that he's coming in for the guys. He's got to put LeBron on it. I know, exactly. You got to have a boy LeBron on that for sure. If you could do it all over again, what would you change? What would Chris Tucker change about anything? Maybe you change nothing, but if you could change something or you wanted to change something, what would Chris Tucker change about his career to date? I wouldn't change anything that comes to mind, but I tell you what, you know, any mistakes that you make, or I might've made, they're learning experiences.

So you don't want to change learning experiences. Right. You got to make sure you learn quick and don't keep making the same mistakes. And so I don't, making the same mistakes uh and so i don't i wouldn't change anything and i would uh you know take i would i pray that i never forget the mistakes that i might have made and and learn from them and keep moving we're gonna wrap with this one tuck yes sir if how do i say this Yes, sir. you came back what are we going to see from tuck in the next 10 years are you going to do

more acting you're going to be more behind the cameras what is what what should we expect from chris tucker from today moving forward i you know what a lot of good things man i want to do it all you know i want to do it all you know of course more acting more more of more of where whatever wherever whatever guides wherever god guides me to be honest with you and no and then i want to say the time i took off was so important and i see the fruits of that now like i could you know like i told you i called congressman john lewis because i was around him and i and i and i became uh and i know I knew him because I was available to go down to the Peterman Bridge the Edmund Peterman Bridge uh when he invited me and you know Bill

no Bill Withers hang out with um with uh Bill Withers and um and my and my buddy who used to take pictures uh for Muhammad Ali I'm gonna think of his name. Oh, Bondini Brown. Oh, no, not Bondini. I know you're talking about... Howard Bingham. Howard Bingham. Howard Bingham introduced me to Bill Withers and then Ambassador Young.

I thank God that he allowed me to step back so I could be comfortable. I can know them and be friends with them. Now, hopefully, they stay around forever, but I'm able and be friends with them. And now, you know, hopefully they stay around forever. But I'm able to say I knew them. They gave me good advice and stuff like that. I would have never known these people if I was just straight on my career

and just worried about me. So I can always have that wisdom to go forward. Sidney Poitier, going to lunch with him. And Harry Belafonte,onte these guys knowing these guys and spending that time so those things you can't you you can't imagine it unless you you willing to say oh you know i'm gonna leave that i'm gonna step back for a minute let me let me grow as a man and as a person and travel the world and stuff i would never experience those things if i wouldn't have faith and faith in god and those things could never be taken away

from me and I still got you know a great career you know coming you know ahead of me but just to say to say that uh uh I want to do it all and I'm able to do it to produce direct and and write and find discover other great actors comedians uh um you know, along the way. So, yeah, I want to do it all, and I'm looking forward to doing it all, you know, wherever God takes me. Got to get your Super Bowl pick. Who you got getting to and who's winning the Super Bowl? Well, I'm going to tell you, my boy Brady.

I love Brady. I met Brady at Michael Jordan's golf tournament, and I thought he was black at first because somebody said, just like you say, what's up, Tuck? Somebody said, what's up, Tuck? I said, well, who this brother is? I turned around, it's Tom Brady. And ever since then, I love Tom Brady.

I said, oh, that's my dog for life right here because he's just down. So I'm going with Tom on that, and I love Aaron. I never met Aaron Rodgers, so I'm going with Tom all the way on that. For the Chiefs, I'm going with Tom all the way on that. You got Tom. For the Chiefs, I'm going with my boy, the Chiefs. My homeboy. My home. I'm going with my homie.

I'm going with my homie. I had a chance to meet him at the All-Star game. Man, I slipped on that one. I don't miss stuff like that. He was sitting across the way. And I didn't get in the end of the All-Star at Chicago. I didn't get a chance to shake his hand. But I'm going with him.

I know he felt my spirit, and I'm going with him, the Chiefs, and Brady. Chiefs and Brady's in the Super Bowl, and I'm not going to call that one because both of them are my boys, so I'm going to see what happens. Let destiny take its course. Let history take its course. NBA, who wins the championship this year? Nets, Lakers, Clippers, Celtics, Sixers, Bucs. The Clippers have a vendetta.

They got to win this year. So I think the Clippers going to be there fighting like cats and dogs with my boy Lou hitting them up and my boy Doc down in – But you know they got a special menu coming out of the place on Forsythe. You know they got a special menu of lemon pepper wings that'll... And them chickens that'll

be biting out that place. Where is that at? Where is that? You know where it's at. Magic. Oh, yes, sir. Yes, sir. That baby swinging. Man, Tuck, I. Yes, sir. That made me swinging. Man, Tuck, I appreciate it, bro. I appreciate the time today.

Hey, man. Love you, man. Thank you, bro. This was awesome. Got to roll the dice, that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, muscle paid the price. Want to slice, got to roll the dice, that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news

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