The new CBS comedy Poppa's House premieres tonight and it stars Damon Wayans as "Poppa," a legendary radio talk show host who discovers that he now has a new female co-host. But the bulk of the series is about "Poppa's House" and the relationship between Poppa and Damon (played by real-life son Damon Wayans Jr.), who struggles to be a responsible husband and father without giving up his dreams.
I had a chance to visit the set of the show in July and at that point, the sets were little more than a collection of undecorated, mostly empty rooms. But Wayans had plenty to say about why he's doing the show and what it's like to work with his son.
You've talked in the past about having this profound work ethic. Where do you think it came from?
From poverty. Listen, this is a true story, I stole 15 cents from my father and he missed it. He actually knew 15 cents was missing. And as a little boy I said, I don't ever want to be that poor where I knew that 15 cents was gone. So, that's my motivation every day is not to be that poor.
What did he say when he found --
He beat the shit out of me, that's what he did. That's why I had to ruminate, you know, think about it. I had to really kind of meditate on the fact that, dude, you're a grown man. And it was pennies and a nickel, like ten pennies and a nickel and he knew it. He knew the denominations.
But we had ten kids. We lived off of ten dollars a day for ten kids and my mother and father. So if you break that down, that's breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My mother was a miracle worker. So, you know, it's just like just poverty really motivates me, Marlon, Shawn, Keenen to keep going, you know?
There's a natural tendency for a father to protect your children. And I'm wondering when you step on the set, do you stop being Dad and just be fellow actor or is Dad always there on the set?
You know, I'm coach, but I'm also coachable because he (Damon Jr.) can do stuff I can't do. And we kind of play off each other and we're equals when we go on to the set. And he's going to have stuff in his hip pocket to try to surprise me and make me laugh. And I'm going to have stuff in my back pocket to make him laugh too. But as long as we're doing that, we are going to win because that's the family formula is for us. You make me laugh and the world will laugh with you. Because I'm a tough critic.
The pilot ends with some outtakes. Are you guys going to do those every week? And who is the first to break on set?
What you see in the outtakes is us trying to make each other laugh. And so the scene is really just about me sipping tea, you know what I mean? It's just him being annoying and waiting for me to finish the tea so he can ask me for something. And that's what he learned in his journey away from the family is how to find funny in the minutia, in the little things in behavior that can make me break. So hopefully we're going to have a lot of that. And it's either that or Poppa sitting there singing songs at the end of the show. Sad, sad songs.
You said earlier that you waited ten years to work with your son. How does it feel for you to now be working with him and accomplish that goal?
It’s what LeBron James wants.
(Laughter.)
It truly is. Because I’ve seen the hard work he’s put in. I know that he can do it and he’s proven that he can. I don’t know how many more shows I have in me, or the desire to do more, but I would love -- if this was the last one I did, I would be very happy because I know it’s going to be great with him, and the rest of my family.
