Cedric the Entertainer Interview, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

MoviesOnline sat down with Cedric the Entertainer ("Barbershop 2: Back in Business," "Be Cool") at the Los Angeles press day for his new movie, "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins," from writer/director Malcolm D. Lee ("The Best Man," "Undercover Brother"). The cast also includes Martin Lawrence, Academy Award nominee Margaret Avery, Joy Bryant, Louis C.K., Academy Award nominee Michael Clarke Duncan, comedian Mike Epps, comedienne Mo’Nique, Nicole Ari Parker, and Academy Award nominee James Earl Jones.

Lawrence stars as a talk-show phenomenon who has left behind his modest Southern upbringing and family name to transform into a self-help guru dispensing his "Team of Me" philosophy to millions of adoring fans. With a reality-TV-star fiancée and money to burn, there’s no piece of the Hollywood dream RJ hasn’t achieved. After his parents request that he come home for their 50th wedding anniversary, the TV host packs up his 10-year-old son and diva bride-to-be and heads back to Georgia to prove to his family that he’s no longer the awkward kid they relentlessly picked on. At least, that’s the plan… Cedric the Entertainer plays RJ’s competitive cousin and lifelong nemesis, Clyde.

Cedric was eager to finally make a film with Martin Lawrence, and the atmosphere that the filmmakers and ensemble cast created impressed him. "When I read the script, it was a fun read right away," the actor states. "But knowing Malcolm, especially when he has an opportunity to do these ensemble pieces, he has the vibe on how to capture that energy."

Lee, who wrote the character with the comedian in mind, adds, "Cedric the Entertainer is everything I expected him to be. Clyde is the coolest uncle that we’ve all had. He’s always giving out money and showing up with gifts. He’s also the guy who knows how to push everyone’s buttons. Cedric really embodies that role."

Cedric is a fabulous comedian and we really appreciated his time. He has celebrated many career successes spanning television, live performances and film. Here’s what he had to tell us about his new movie:

CEDRIC: I think that was really the real message of the film, going back and seeing it. I used to be ticklish. I just can’t remember, I had an uncle. Well, he was actually my cousin but he would tickle me until I peed on myself. As I got older, I just really thought that wasn't funny because I was 16, 17 years old and he would still try to walk up and tickle me. I just thought that was inappropriate. Back then, we didn't have numbers we could call or nothing like that. So recently, I talked to him and I just told him, "You know, remember when you used to try to tickle me 'til I peed on myself all the time, why was that so funny to you?" And he just said, "I just thought it was funny. I didn't even think about it." For real, I was like 14 years old and I'm walking around with pee stains on because I would laugh. So that was one thing about family I didn’t appreciate.

Q: What about the pee problem?

CEDRIC: I matured. I drank a moderate amount of water and I don't let people tickle me no more. I don't take the chance so even now when somebody tries to tickle me, for real, when somebody tries to tickle me to this day, I'm actually very defensive about it. I don't know why but that's one of those things that stays in your head even as an adult. I don't even play like that. Don't tickle me. Don't do it, don't do it.

Q: So you never get over childhood traumas?

CEDRIC: I don't think so. I think if you have those kind of things that bother you for whatever reason it is, some people it's like food. Anybody can outgrow food sometimes. I remember I had another aunt that was really like my uncle's wife, and she gave me a whooping one time. To this day, you still don't like her. You just didn't feel she was in the circle to give whoopings. She was outside the whooping circle. Sure, you're an adult, but you're my uncle's wife. Not even really kin to me like that to be doing that. Whoop your own kids. Tell somebody about me. Don't. So when they got divorced, I was like, "Nah." I know that's not nice but that's how I felt. I still feel that way, like, "Nah."

Q: What is it like playing opposite other stand-up comedians?

CEDRIC: For me, it was really a lot of fun. There's a lot of great comedic talent in this movie. One though, we were all fans of each other so it was a point of letting people have their shine. I definitely give credit to Martin, especially being the lead in this movie. There’s always the kind of scenario where you want to make sure that other comedians sometimes are pushed down a little bit, but he just took the attitude that he's got his lane and I got mine and Mike Epps and Mo’Nique, so we just felt like we just wanted to watch each other, so there was definitely times where you can't wait until somebody's turn. You're like, "All right, cool, this is my stuff" and then you hit the ball out of the park. You can hear other people with their ideas kind of firing up, like if you throw something out there, like, "I'm going to say this when the time comes." We just ended up being really great fans of each other just kind of watching and waiting and especially with somebody like Mike Epps who's totally off the cuff. You have no idea where he's going to go.

Q: Were you ever competitive to get the biggest laugh?

CEDRIC: That was definitely the case because you'll try to enhance a joke or make something a lot funnier. I think that again we were fans of each other, so even though we compete trying to get the biggest laugh, then you just can't wait until somebody else's turn too. That was the other thing about this kind of energy. So that was one of the key things to really make it hard for Malcolm. I don't know what take he's going to take and use in the editing room, but we're just going to have a ball and leave it up to you to put this movie together.

Q: What's in the movie that was improv?

CEDRIC: They took all my good stuff out. I'm going to actually have a small talk with him immediately following this. No, I was trying to think, I think a lot of the speeches and stuff at the end where I'm crying and talking, I'm making up a lot of those stories, like all that stuff was going on. There were takes there that I thought probably could have been funnier but I may have flubbed a line or didn't really tie it all together because I was just improv'ing a lot of it. I would go off on these crazy long tangents about how he raised me and sleeping in the bed and it was just funny. I don't know. So the outtakes should be hot, definitely.

CEDRIC: Definitely like one of the reasons, talking with Malcolm and reading the script, you wanted to be a part of this movie but each time they kinda told you who was involved it just became more interesting and by the time he mentioned that James Earl Jones was the father, you just took such great pride and honor in being a part of a project that this legend was going to be in. He’s such a generous man. He’s so old school and cool. When he shows up to the set, he’s real nice and just kinda kicks back in the corner and when it’s time to do his lines, he doesn’t know them half the time but you know it’s James Earl Jones anyway. [Laughs] Say something with a deep voice you know. But it was funny you know because he would be kinda taking it easy and then Margaret Avery would be on him all the time. She’d be the only one calling him Jimmy. We’d be sitting around like "Who is she talking to?" They’d known each other for years. She’d say, "Jimmy, hit your mark, say your lines. It’s hot out here. You got all these people standing around waiting for you. We went over this over and over." They got a funny little relationship which I wished I’d caught more of it on camera. It was funny. No, it was just great to be there and be a part of it with him. He’s really powerful. That voice is like … He had that one line where he would just yell out, "Enough!" and we’d all be like "Is he acting right now? Is he talking to me? Did I say something wrong?" [Laughs] Like whoa!

Q: Was it tough doing the obstacle course?

CEDRIC: It was. When you read it, it reads very funny. You read the script and you're like, "Oh, this obstacle course will be crazy. This is hilarious right here." Then when you have to do it, when they get it set up, they had it really set up. It was like 80 yards. You've got to really run and jump and I was like, "Come on, Malcolm." So it was tough. That took about five days. It was a lot of time. Maybe five or six days to shoot that just because you've got to run it three times, we've got to see your feet in this one, then they want to see your face and then they get the whole body. So you've got to do the tires six, seven times just so he can get all the coverage. I'm like, "Man, can't we get somebody in here who looks like me or something?" It was hard and there wasn't really a lot of preparation. We swung and they had to harness you up, but we did the sliding thing. All of it was kind of fun after a while, crawling in the mud. All those kinda things after a while, you just don't get to do that as an adult anymore so I actually had a good time doing some of those things, but it's the takes, having to do it three, six, seven times, laying down in the grass.

Q: Where was it?

CEDRIC: It was like on a farm. This guy had this farm and we shot it out there. There were snakes and mosquitoes and it was really hot and there was some kind of bird that made a very weird noise. You couldn't see him. This was up in them trees. Every now and then you'd think you'd see Bigfoot go past, because it was almost like a swampland. It was crazy. Late at night you'd hear dogs, [barks].

Q: Did you have a stunt double on the fall for the obstacle course?

CEDRIC: I did a lot of the stunts. Now, I didn't do the falls only because of some insurance thing, but I like doing a lot of my own stunts. But because of the insurance stuff, you can't really do the falls.

Q: What is the relevance of Black History Month and are you doing anything special for it?

CEDRIC: I was involved in something recently, the BET Honors which I felt was very important about putting a new spin and a new look on Black History Month. I think that in the past, it started to be something that was less significant to the black community. We celebrated but we don't really care about it. We have to- - we're going back and not to say but we look at Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King. I thought that this BET Honors was important that it's going to air in Black History Month as well but to recognize people in the community that are doing things now that have made great strides, people in business and entertainment and industry and different areas. I think that if we start to encourage and talk about some of these things and bring some of these things to the forefront, it'll become a little more relevant to the youth and something that will encourage them to be greater people. Then Black History Month can be a little more of a celebration of us all and not just the things that we've done in the past, even though that is very important. I think that since we have a whole month, we should be encouraged and be motivated to show the greatness that exists around us and every day that's going on as well as how and why we got to this place. So I was encouraged by that and want to basically talk about getting that more of the influence to talk about what we're doing currently, to talk about who's doing what and why and celebrate these people as well as the Martin Luther Kings, the Malcolm X's, Sojourner Truth, all these great people but again make them real to people. Understand how this person is truly relatable to somebody that you can identify with right now that's doing it.

Q: What do you look for in a role?

CEDRIC: I like to see how my character lives throughout the movie, if he makes it all the way through, and then what is his motivation and what is his point of view in the movie. It’s all about if I can identify with a point of view that I think I can add something to or make it a little more interesting. It's that kind of thing that attracted me more to this role.

Q: Did the role change when you said yes?

CEDRIC: Not too much. The core of it was pretty much there. It was just that I think the only thing I tried to add was that Clyde was supposed to be a little more easier of a pushover and I made the relationship between me and Martin a little tougher, like a little more tough love than it was supposed to be. I pushed it just a little bit more so that you kind of felt something there, that they don't really like each other so when we did make up, it had a little more value to it.

Q: What's next?

CEDRIC: I'm starting Cadillac Records. That's with Adrien Brody and Jeffrey Wright. I'm playing Willie Dixon, the great writer of all those blues songs and some of Chuck Berry's songs, so that's going to be great.

Q: Are you in the Biggie movie?

CEDRIC: No, I'm not. They're actually starting that already so I'm not doing it. They're doing a young actor though. They're doing Biggie when he was a lot younger.

Q: Do you play guitar?

CEDRIC: No, he plays the bass, Willie played bass. I don't play bass but I've started taking some lessons recently. I just want to at least be able to hold the thing right.

Q: Is it important to be historically accurate, or just riff on famous people?

CEDRIC: No, it's important to be historically accurate but the thing about my character is I end up being the voice of the movie and I'm in the movie a lot less because actually it's basically the narrator. I'm telling the story and I'm only in the movie a very small amount. I think I play only one time in the movie. ??? He's a partner with Leonard Chess to help write the songs and help guide the record label so you kind of see that relationship. He was probably one of the first people who had his own publishing, Willie Dixon had his publishing. So after the fall of blues music and rock n' roll and all those things, he came out pretty much intact.

Q: He retained control?

CEDRIC: Yeah, he had his publishing and he told the guys when they wanted it that he signed it off already to some gangster and he hadn't, he owned it the whole time.

"Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" opens in theaters on February 8th.