EXCLUSIVE: Cedric the Entertainer on feuding comedians: “Just stay in your lane”
'The Neighborhood' premieres October 1 on CBS.
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Cedric The Entertainer has been making us laugh for years and now he’s bringing his talents to the small screen in his new CBS sitcom, The Neighborhood.
In The Neighborhood, Cedric plays Calvin Butler and the show that also stars Tichina Arnold and highlights what happens when Black neighborhoods are infiltrated by white folks.
Peep the official description:
Here’s a comedy about what happens when the friendliest guy in the Midwest moves his family (the Johnsons) to a neighborhood in Los Angeles where not everyone looks like him – or appreciates his extreme neighborliness. Cedric the Entertainer stars as, the Johnsons’ opinionated next-door neighbor, who is wary of the newcomers, and certain that the Johnsons will disrupt the culture on the block.
“This show is about me living in this historically Black neighborhood for all this time, feelin’ myself, feeling like the man that I am when I walk through, and then here they come. Settlers are coming in,” Cedric told TheGrio in an exclusive interview.
“It’s so real these days. You can see it all over the city of Los Angeles and other cities around the country where neighborhoods are starting to be gentrified. This is where my character is a little concerned and a little stuck in his ways and has to learn and grow with the way the world is changing around him.”
According to Cedric, the show will tackle real issues while remaining light-hearted.
“I think it sets us up to be able to touch upon subject matters that are going on without us being a show that is politically-charged. We are a multi-cam sitcom on Monday nights so we want people to watch and have a good time but we aren’t going to shy away from issues that we need to touch on. Most of the writing on the show is pretty aggressive in that direction We say what we need to say.”
The veteran comic took time to weigh in on the recent dust-ups on the scene, like the back-and-forth over Tiffany Haddish between Kevin Hart and Katt Williams; Kevin Hart and Mike Epps, and Leslie Jones venting about her male counterparts’ lack of support for female comedians.
‘Nothing to do with me’: Tifffany Haddish responds to Kevin Hart, Katt Williams beef
“Comedy is an interesting place. Social media makes people feel like they have to vent; that they have this camera and can wake up in the morning and say exactly what they’re thinking,” he says.
“I think in this business it’s just wrong to judge or rank or rate anybody else’s career. When you have an opportunity to do what it is that you love, that’s it. Some people get breaks before others, some people take a long time to make it, but in all cases, you just gotta love those who actually got an opportunity to do it and if they share your craft, you just big up that. There ain’t no reason to hate on nobody else’s career.”
His advice to feuding comedians is pretty simple.
“You can’t want another person’s blessings because you don’t know their burdens,” he says. “Just stay in your lane and be you, that’s it.”
Check out the full interview above and find out if Cedric The Entertainer would ever invite Donald Trump to a cookout.
The Neighborhood premieres October 1 on CBS.
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