Cedric the Entertainer is the star of a new television series where he plays a former R&B star who becomes a Reverend.
One of the most versatile comedy actors in film and television, Cedric the Entertainer is best known for his roles in hit films “Barbershop,” “Be Cool” and “Madagascar.” His universal appeal, versatility, and career successes spanning television, live performances and film have solidified his standing as one of the premiere entertainers in the world.
An author, designer, producer and philanthropist, who founded ‘The Cedric The Entertainer Charitable Foundation,’ which provides scholarships and outreach programs to the inner-city youth in his hometown of St. Louis, MO., Cedric develops and produces feature films under his production company, A Bird And A Bear Entertainment. An award winning artist who has won multiple accolades for his eclectic brand of humor and delivery, the entertainer who plays a superstar-turned-minister on the comedy series “Soul Man”, talks to Samantha Ofole-Prince about his latest project.
In the series you play an R&B star who becomes a preacher in his father’s church. He’s funny, charismatic and ironically also from St Louis, is the character based on you? `
It’s a combination. Because I co-created the show, I always had the character in my head because it really is close to my personality. I thought it was be great and funny to play him a little more like me and take little parts of my own personality and put it in the show.
Are you a religious man Cedric?
I am a spiritual man in the sense that I grew up in church and used to go to church all the time, but I consider myself a person of faith and spirituality. I don’t go to church on a regular basis, but I definitely understand the lifestyle and how it’s necessary.
There is a great rapport between yourself and actress Niecy Nash, who plays your television wife on the show. Is that called good acting or simply natural chemistry?
It actually turned out to be really natural. I thought she would be the perfect person to do this show when we were looking at the list of people to cast so I went after her. When we came on the set and after we got the rhythm in the first couple of weeks it was just natural and automatic. She is a lot of fun and has a great personality and so that chemistry shows.
Going back to the show’s conception was Soul Man always the title or did it change along the way?
One of the earlier titles was ‘Have Faith’ which we thought was a little too churchy in a way and too on the button. As we started to come up with names, Soul Man became a natural thing. Reverend Boyce used to be a soul singer and now he is saving souls and I thought that represented who I was more.
Shows led by people of color are a rarity on television and Soul Man seems to fill that void, what are your hopes for the show down the road?
I get really excited about the numbers of people tuning in to watch the show since we premiered last month and the fact that people thought a show like this was really missing from television. I think we will see those numbers continue to grow and see more people come to TV Land. The big thing for me is to make an impact on an emerging network where we don’t really have a big African American presence and for the show to have the same effect that ‘The Cosby Show’ did.
Why is the show on a cable channel versus being on a major network where it can be seen by a bigger fan base?
TV Land is a small network, but it feels like a great environment, and there are not a lot of cooks in the kitchen. They are a subsidiary of Viacom, so they have the package and promotions and relationships to make it feel like a big deal even though we are in a small kinda of world, which was perfect for me. I am the kind of person that’s been my own star for so long that having too many people with opinions interferes with my creative energy.
The show also features John Beasley (“Everwood”) as his father, Wesley Jonathan (“What I Like About You”) as his younger brother, and Jazz Raycole (“My Wife and Kids”) as his daughter and airs Wednesdays at 10PM/9C on the cable television network TV Lan
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