'Poppa's House' star Damon Wayans details how a family breakdown inspired the CBS comedy

Note: The following story contains spoilers for the series premiere of “Poppa's House.”

There's no denying that the Wayans family is one of the busiest in Hollywood. But what's perhaps even more surprising is the level of industry honesty embodied in Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr.'s upcoming CBS sitcom Poppa's House.

It's the pilot episode of “Poppa's House” that contains a lesson that has become crucial to the elder Wayans' lives. The first episode is about Damon (Wayans Jr.) leaving his stable but soul-destroying job to pursue his dream as a director. During the emotional core of the episode, Poppa (Wayans) sits down with his son and tells him bluntly that he needs to take care of his family first. Then he can realize his dreams. This was inspired by a life lesson Wayans learned the hard way.

“I worked at Paramount Pictures in 1984 or 1985 and was in the movie Beverly Hills Cop and the movie was huge. People would want me to act like the character I was in the movie, but I deliver their mail to them. It scared me,” Wayans, star and executive producer of the series, told TheWrap at the Television Critics Association summer tour.

Fed up, Wayans quit his job as a mail carrier at Paramount, leaving him with no income. Then his life took a rapid turn. “(Wayan Jr.’s) mother was pregnant with my second son. He wore my t-shirts as diapers. One night we all had a breakdown – she cried, he cried, I started crying. I took a walk. And I promised God on that walk that I would never put my family in that situation again,” Wayans said. “The next day I went back and begged for my job.”

It's this push and pull between the desire to achieve dreams and the harsh reality of needing a paycheck that's often at the heart of “Poppa's House,” a family sitcom that feels comfortably stale after the first 10 minutes. This familiarity is due to the relationship between this father-son duo.

“Chemistry is very helpful. That’s something you can’t write,” Wayans said. “We have that comedic relationship from over the years as well as the father-son dynamic.”

“When we're together, that's all we do. It's gotten to the point where it irritates my wife. She says, 'Guys, go into the other room,'” Wayans Jr., who also serves as a producer, told TheWrap. “We just laugh and just try to make each other laugh, and I feel like we bring that into these characters. Even though they are different from us, we are also parts of them.”

According to Dean Lorey, the showrunner and executive producer, Poppa and Damon's relationship was “fully formed” thanks to Wayans and Wayans Jr.

“For me it was just about honoring their real lives and how they interacted with each other. You almost have to push things out of the way and let them be themselves, because that’s the fun of the show,” Lorey told TheWrap.

The dynamic between this parent and child was so crucial to Poppa's House that it actually changed the entire framework of the series. Originally, Poppa was supposed to record his radio show in a studio while feuding with his new co-host Ivy (Essence Atkins). In this version, Poppa returned home regularly to deal with the daily turmoil of family life. But in an effort to bring Wayans and Wayans Jr. together more often, the pilot ends with Poppa leaving his radio show and opting to record a new podcast at home.

“We like the idea of ​​bringing the two together as much as possible, so we just worked the other way from there,” Lorey said. “You can immediately feel where a scene or an episode is going when the two play together. That really shaped it.”

Working together has allowed the two to better appreciate and learn from each other's acting skills. “As an actor, (Wayans Jr.) is super playful. I'm not that playful. I am an instigator of comedy. Like hitting someone over the head with a sock,” Wayans said. “He has better behavior and funny things than me. I sit there and watch and think, 'Okay, I can respond to that' or 'I wish I could do that'.”

“Everything that made me who I am comedically came from watching this man. So I can't say exactly what it's about, but I know he's always on top of his game when it comes to comedy,” said Wayans Jr. “Even when he doesn't feel like it, he still does comedy while I I have to get in the mood for it.”

It is also this close relationship that allowed the series to transcend even the first episode. Before the cast and crew filmed the pilot for CBS, Wayans' father, Howell Stouten Wayans, died.

“We buried him this weekend and then we filmed the show the next week. If the chemistry between us wasn't right – because we were both in a fog. But when I looked into his eyes, I was able to concentrate. I think I did the same for him,” Wayans said. “It's been a very, very difficult time, so I can only imagine what our show will be like without this cloud over our heads.”

New episodes of Poppa's House premiere Mondays at 8:30 PM ET/PT on CBS and stream the next day on Paramount+.

The post 'Poppa's House' Star Damon Wayans Describes How a 'Family Breakdown' Inspired the CBS Comedy appeared first on TheWrap.