Damon Wayans Tells All About Starring With His Son in 'Poppa’s House'

The new CBS sitcom is the intergenerational show of the year

Roger Catlin,

AARP

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Published October 18, 2024

Damon Wayans senior and Damon Wayans junior acting in a television scene

Junior (Damon Wayans Jr.) has a disagreement with his dad (Damon Wayans Sr) on 'Poppa's House'.

Damon Wayans Sr., 64 (In Living Color, Lethal Weapon), stars in the new sitcom Poppa’s House (CBS, Oct. 21, 8:30 p.m. ET) with his similarly accomplished son Damon Wayans Jr., 41. Slotted in comfortably alongside Cedric the Entertainer’s hit The Neighborhood, Poppa’s House concerns a radio talk show legend forced to adapt to the changing world and keeping up with his grown son’s family underfoot.

Wayans Sr. tells AARP what it's like to represent the older generation on a show with your actual son.

Now that you’re well into your AARP years, how does life look to you?

Beautiful. I wish I'd have known back then what I know now, I would have lived a happier life.

Why do you say that?

I'm just kind of peaced-out right now, in a place of gratitude. I never thought I'd live past 18, coming from where I came from. And then to see children, grandchildren and a great grandchild is just like: What does God see in me that he let me experience this, you know? So I'm just full of gratitude. And to work with my son on the show — how many people get to say that?

Did this show begin with that idea, working with your son?

What happened was that Damon [Jr.] moved into a gated community. He was out in Calabasas, and I was in Hollywood, and I wanted to see them more, right? So I go over to the house, and the realtor comes in and says, "There's a house right across the street that's for sale." And we look around and go, "This is nice!" And Damon's wife Samara tells her kids, "Whenever you get to be a pain in my a--, I'm sending you off to Poppa's house." And I'm sitting there like, "Oh hell no, I'm not doing this!" I told my agent that story, and he's like, "That's a sitcom."

In the sitcom version, you made your character a radio DJ.

It's kind of like the last old-school thing in our society. I collect vinyl, I listen to vinyl every day. When I die, my kids can have my records, and they'll know what my musical taste was. Now, they have everything on the phone. When you go, it's deleted. You just don't exist anymore. Everything, like your photos, everything is gone unless someone has access to your password. And so radio is kind of like one of those last things. I remember getting up in New York and listening to WINS for news. "You give us 22 minutes, and we’ll give you the world," right? And Chief Rocker Frankie Crocker on WBLS and Ken ‘Spider’ Webb. I woke up with Ken 'Spider' Webb on WBLS and went to sleep with Frankie Crocker. Their voices are still in my head.

Are you bringing your musical taste to the show too?

Yeah. Each show, we have a budget for needle drops, which is great because, especially with our characters, it's hard not to fall in love listening to good music. It just sets the mood. Music today is pretty disposable — except country music, it's still about stories and love and stuff like that. But the current state of R & B and hip-hop is not about love. It's about lust.

Have you mellowed with age? When you were coming up in comedy you were doing some wild stuff.

I think the world is different. My stand-up [comedy], I love it too much to have it open up to debate. I don't say it to offend. I say it to be funny. And either you laugh or you don't. What's funny about someone falling down the stairs? It's not you, that's what's funny.

What is it about your family that created all these comic talents?

I don't know, there must be something in the water, because 98% of my family is funny. Like, just in conversation. Damon Jr.’s sons are funny. His daughter is hysterical. They just light up the room. And the way she interacts with her sister, we call them Bad Idea and Worse Idea, because that's all they do, is come up with stuff to make each other laugh. That's how it was with me and Keenan [Wayans]. That's how it is with me and Junior. We live to make each other laugh.

You and Damon Jr. have such a great rapport on the show — is that something you have innately?

No, it's because we love each other. We trust each other. I know he knows what's funny. He knows I know what's funny. It tickles me to see him being funny and taking over a scene. My ego is not so big that I gotta try to win the scene. The beauty is in the back and forth — not in someone just trying to slam and ace it. That doesn't work.

This show might remind some of Sanford and Son.

I love Sanford and Son. Redd Foxx was brilliant. This is slightly different. Sanford and Son were guys in the ghetto trying to get out. We're not really doing that. We’re just doing a father and a son thing, where the son gets on the father’s nerves, and the father gets on the kid’s nerves, but we've neutralized race. It's not about race.

And it’s an upscale family, which probably reflects your family as well.

Absolutely. My daughter was married to this guy whose history was, he was a gang-banger. And she fell in love, and I’ve got the greatest granddaughter ever from them. But the first time he came around, he was like, "I don't understand this. Nobody's drinking, nobody’s fighting? We got to check our guns when we go to my family!" We have a really beautiful family. It's more Cosby, My Wife and Kids than Sanford and Son.

You changed a lot of TV with In Living Color.

It’s still on TV in reruns. And it was a huge hit because Fox had nothing to lose, right? It was like, people are gonna talk, and isn't that what we want?

How long do you want this show to run?

Seven to ten years.

Really? You want to work that long?

I want to get paid! No, I think 7 to 10 years will tell all the stories we can tell. And then I'll be ready for a nice retirement, and we'll have had time to teach the next generation.

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