John Witherspoon, 69, has kept busy with comedy and acting gigs, having created memorable characters over his long career.
Actor-comedian John Witherspoon, who begins a three-night run Thursday at Harrah's Tunica Casino's comedy club The Funny Bone, has created many memorable characters — mostly inappropriate fathers — over his long career.
He was David Alan Grier's crude father dispensing romantic advice over the Thanksgiving table in the Eddie Murphy film "Boomerang." He was the diner-owning dad to Shawn and Marlon Wayans on the '90s situation comedy "The Wayans Bros." And he voices the stern, loving grandfather Robert Jebediah Freeman on the animated series "The Boondocks," which Witherspoon announced last summer will produce a fourth season in 2012.
Now comes word that Witherspoon may get to resurrect another of his iconic roles, Willie Jones, the father of Ice Cube's Craig in the popular "Friday" series of films.
"They had it on the news last week that they're going to make another movie," says Witherspoon about the recently announced fourth film in the comedy franchise that includes 1995's original film plus the sequels "Next Friday" and "Friday After Next."
"They're getting Chris Tucker back," he says, referring to the actor who has been absent since the first movie. "He's having income tax problems. He's gotta do another 'Friday.' And a Saturday and a Sunday, too."
Witherspoon, 69, understands doing what you have to to make a living in his business. The brother of Motown songwriter and producer William Weatherspoon, the Detroit native learned through school French horn lessons that he didn't have the musical ability of his classmates who were members of The Temptations. Instead, at an early age, acting captured his imagination. He signed up for acting classes and, in his own words, "screwed up Shakespeare."
After high school, he moved to New York City to try to make it as a model.
"I thought I was pretty until I went to New York and all them dudes were much prettier that I am," he recalls. "Taller and everything."
Beating it back to Detroit, Witherspoon was inspired by comics including Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor to try comedy. And in 1974, he headed to Los Angeles.
"I left in February," he says. "I left Detroit in a '65 Mustang that leaked all its transmission fluid. That's determination."
In California, Witherspoon fell in with the crowd of rising young comics hanging around the Comedy Store, including Jay Leno, Robin Williams and his good friend, David Letterman, who is godfather to Witherspoon's children.
"We had a Comedy Store basketball team," Witherspoon recalls. "Me, David, Jimmy Walker, ("WKRP in Cincinnati" star) Tim Reid, Tom Dressen — we were all on the basketball team. One day after we had played a game, Letterman said why don't we play one-on-one, and we played one-on-one full court."
Witherspoon also found work right away, playing bit parts in shows such as "Barnaby Jones" and "The Incredible Hulk."
He has just released a concert DVD "You Got To Coordinate" and comedy rap CD, 63 Cent, both available on his website, bangbangbangbang.com.
The Funny Bone is at 13615 Old Highway 61, Tunica Resorts, Miss. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursday, 8 and 10:30 p.m. Dec. 2 and 9:30 p.m. and midnight Dec. 3. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 day of the show. Advance tickets are available by phone at (662) 357-4242 and online at funnybonetunica.com.
Lawrence to the rescue
Hank Williams Jr. may have lost his gig providing the theme music for "Monday Night Football," but country still has a guy on the gridiron, thanks to Tracy Lawrence, who performs Saturday at Gold Strike Casino's Millennium Theater, 1010 Casino Center Dr., Tunica Resorts, Miss.
Off the scene since his last release, 2009's gospel record The Rock, the vocalist behind No. 1 songs such as "Sticks and Stones" and "Texas Tornado" returned to honky-tonk form this year with his college football ode "Saturday in the South," which has been adopted by both Fox Sports South and CBS Sports for its SEC telecasts.
You won't find the song on Lawrence's latest album, however. Released in June, The Singer is Lawrence's first for his own Lawrence Music Group label and features a stripped-down acoustic sound and more personal subject matter.
Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $29.95 and are available at the casino gift shop, by phone at (866) 245-4536, and through Ticketmaster. For more information, visit goldstrike.com.
- |
Comments » 0
Be the first to post a comment!
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.