What is the best part about making a family sitcom with actual family?
Is there anything challenging to that or is it all fun?
DAMON WAYANS SR.: For me, its all fun.
Its always, Yes, and .
Its, I like that, and what about this?
Yes, and what about this?
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DAMON WAYANS JR.: Its very collaborative, very familial.
So, its easy.
Well, its not easy.
Image via CBS
What have you guys most enjoyed about working together on this?
Is there anything that youve discovered about each other from working together in this capacity?
What do you enjoy about each other as scene partners?
Theres a lot of comfort in that.
Its just very comforting.
The series premieres this fall.
Image via CBS
When you do something like this, the laughs are important.
And what do you do to shake that up and turn it around?
By the time it comes to shooting at the end of the week, we already have it fine-tuned.
A legendary talk radio host faces new challenges both at work and at home. A fresh female co-host shakes up his professional life, while at home, he continues to guide his adult son, a dreamer struggling to balance his creative ambitions with family responsibilities.
We dont have days where were not laughing.
Who doesnt want to laugh at work all day?
Everybody knows everybody and loves everybody, so it just makes it so easy to go to work.
WAYANS JR.: Im confident in my dads ability to make the right decision for the show.
And then, hes very collaborative.
Hes not the kind of person thats like, Its my way or the highway.
He listens and hes very collaborative.
Hes a very good collaborator, as well.
WAYANS SR.: We dont sit around saying, No.
People get into arguments when you just shoot it down.
We dont do that.
You always feel like you have a seat at the table.
WAYANS JR.: I also feel like the lack of ego is key too.
Nobodys going in there prideful about their pitches.
But then, once in a while, hell pitch something thats brilliant and you go, Okay.
His ratio is way off, but hes tenacious.
He keeps coming back like hes never gotten rejected before, and that is inspiring to other people.
It was so fun to see how that process worked.
Do you improvise much in the moment?
WAYANS SR.: Absolutely.
Were not coming to work to do whats on the page.
Whats on the page is a blueprint for what we bring to the stage.
You wanna be supportive.
How hard was that moment to get right?
When the rhythm has to be perfect to work, how many times do you have to shoot it?
WAYANS SR.: We actually only shot that twice.
That outtake that you saw was my first attempt because that was improv.
She rhymed to me, and I was like, Okay, I need to rhyme back to her.
So, we did another take and thats whats in the show.
Stuff like that, thats where the magic happens.
It comes with listening and trusting and letting the gift take over.
You just have to trust that its gonna be funny.
How do you feel that change has really helped with the stories you’re free to tell now?
WAYANS SR.: What I realized with the radio station is that Dr. Reed was on an island.
Poppas Houseairs on CBS and is available to stream on Paramount+.
Check out this series preview:
Watch on Paramount+
