Damon Wayans on “Poppa’s House”

Damon Wayans knows his way around the Paramount Pictures lot better than most; he used to deliver mail there to all the big stars. And now, of course, he is one. In his new comedy, “Poppa’s House,” which premieres tomorrow night on CBS, he’s a dad with attitude. The chemistry with his co-star feels natural, because it is – his son is played by his real-life son, Damon Wayans Jr.

Both agreed that it was their goal to make each other laugh. “That’s the ultimate goal really, is to make people who you respect laugh,” said Damon Jr. “If I can get my dad to break in a scene, that just gives me more energy for the next take.”

And for 64-year-old Damon Sr., comedy is both an occupation and a legacy. For nearly four decades, Damon Wayans has been creating some of the edgier characters on TV and film, from a Marine drill instructor in “Major Payne,” to the angry clown from “In Living Color,” named Homey.

He says people still call out Hey, Homey! on the street. It makes him smile: “It’s nice. It’s, like, does a woman ever get tired of being told she’s beautiful? Never, right?”

And that little bit of TV immortality is even sweeter for someone who grew up fighting just to survive.

Damon Wayans was born in a less-glamorous section of New York City, one of 10 children, all living in a cramped apartment. “There was four of us to a room,” he said.

How close did that make you all? “To sleep with someone’s foot in your behind is pretty much my childhood!” he laughed.

It also helped make them funny: Wayans says his siblings (including Keenan, Shawn and Marlon) all found a way to turn a difficult childhood into fuel for comic fire. “In my stand-up I talk about how my mother would tell us, ‘There’s no food; you can each have a little bit of toothpaste, so you have something in your stomach.’ That’s real.”

By 1982 he’d followed his older brother, Keenan, to Hollywood, doing standup comedy by night, and – with a wife and new baby at home – delivering mail all day at Paramount Studios. “It was amazing, ’cause I would see Eddie Murphy on the lot, I’d see Henry Winkler and Leonard Nimoy,” he said.

And what did he think as an up-and-comer, seeing those people? “I hope I didn’t mess up their mail!” he laughed.

He laughs now, but it wasn’t an easy job. In fact, just walking at all was a challenge. He has a club foot. “I had operations, but still, it’s like, I’m in pain. I just walk around with, like, a toothache in my foot. It’s a constant.”

At one point, broke and in despair, he quit the mail job in frustration. And then, he says, he got a sign that changed his life: “I take a walk, and I have a talk with God. And I told Him, ‘If you help me, I promise I’ll never put my family in this position again.’ (‘Cause we had nothing to eat, no milk, no diapers.) And I’m walking, and I’m talking, I’m crying to God. And there’s a guy walking ahead of me, and I see something fall out of his pocket. And he turns the corner. And I go, I pick it up. It’s $10.”

Was it like a prayer answered? “Absolutely,” he said. “But the next day, I had to go beg for my job back.”

His first real break was a brief but memorable part in an Eddie Murphy film, “Beverly Hills Cop.” It led to his being cast on “Saturday Night Live,” essentially following in Murphy’s footsteps.

Wayans said Murphy gave him some advice about “SNL”: “He said, ‘Write your own sketches. Otherwise you gonna be doing white people stuff, and you gonna hate it.’ And he was right.”

Wayans struggled to get a foothold at “SNL,” and was fired after his first season. But just a few years later, Wayans and his characters found a home on the sketch show his brother Keenan created, Fox TV’s “In Living Color.” The show also starred his siblings Shawn and Kim, among others – a real family business.

His family has long been an inspiration for his work, like the hit series “My Wife and Kids.” For Wayans, working on that show was a kind of therapy. “People don’t know that in 2000 I was going through a divorce while we were starting ‘Wife and Kids,'” he said.

Wasn’t that painful? “No. Comedians live for that,” he replied. “It’s like, I get into a car accident and I go up onstage and I talk about my neck hurting and people are laughing, my neck doesn’t hurt as much.”

It’s a formula that’s taken Damon Wayans from the depths of despair to the top of his game. He’s raised a family, had grandkids and along the way found peace. “I’ve reached an age where I’m content,” he said.

And what makes him content? “Well, I got tired of chasing happy. Because happy is fleeting. There’s nothing I need except my health and well-being. And guess what? Happy moved in next door to me. Now every day is just, like, a blessing. Ten grandkids, one great-grandkid. 

“Life. Does it get better? It doesn’t!”

To watch a teaser for “Poppa’s House,” click on the video player below:

      
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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Steven Tyler.