Damon Wayans on Working With His Son on 'Happy Endings' ... and Why They Went Clubbing Together

If you've been watching the new ABC relationship comedy 'Happy Endings' and noticed that one of the actors looks and acts a lot like Damon Wayans, you're right. That actor is Damon Wayans, just not the one you usually think of. It's Damon Wayans Jr., son of the 'In Living Color' and 'My Wife and Kids' star. And if you ask Damon Wayans Sr., he's pretty proud of his son.

"Everybody says the same thing about him, that he's just a great guy, they just love him," Damon Sr. told me last week. "I call him Pancakes, because everybody loves pancakes."

Tonight, Damon Sr. will appear on 'Happy Endings' as -- what else? -- the uptight father of Damon Jr.'s character Brad, who lets loose after a health scare. The two have worked together before; Damon Jr. was a writer on 'My Wife and Kids' and was directed by his father on 'The Underground,' But this was the first time the two of them could interact just as actors, which Damon Sr. enjoyed.

"It's like when I was doing 'In Living Color'; you don't have to say or do anything, you just have to see a smile in the eye, and it just means that they're listening," he said. "When they're listening to you be funny then you can see them step outside of character and actually enjoying you perform."

We started our conversation, though, about how tough it is to refer to him as a "Senior."

Joel Keller: When I was offered this interview, I was told it was with "Damon Wayans Sr." I refuse to use the "Sr." part in your name.
Damon Wayans: [Laughs] It sounds so old.

Is it interesting now that because of your son being on 'Happy Endings' people are calling you "Sr." now?
No, what's interesting to me is that they're calling my son and not me. [Laughs] Meaning he's getting all the work.

Are they going "We need a young Damon Wayans type"?
[Still laughing] Yeah, they want the new and improved model.

When you look at your son perform, do you see any of yourself, or your brand of comedy, in his performance?
I have to check myself because I know how funny he is, and I want him to be that funny right away all the time. And that's impossible, because one, there's a cast, he's in an ensemble. Two, with writing, he's not a producer; he has to take what he gets and make it funny, and these guys are great over at 'Happy Endings.' But I have to kinda just sit back as a father and relax and just let him be. He'll find it. I tell him this all the time, "I put a warrior inside of you; you got to let him out." He has the ability to make funny where funny might not be.

Great comics have that killer instinct, and a lot of times they lose it after a certain [level] of success. But Eddie Murphy has that killer comic instinct, where he can eat up the screen. Jim Carrey has that; guys that can just take over. And D-Jun -- I call him D-Jun -- has that potential; he just needs to find it.

What did you impart to him as he was growing up? Or did he just watch you and that's where he got his ability from?
I think every day that he left the house to go to school I told him to be a leader. I saw that he had a big personality; big personalities can lead to good or they can lead to bad. And everybody says the same thing about him, that he's just a great guy, they just love him. I call him Pancakes, because everybody loves pancakes. [Laughs]

He told a great story on 'Conan' last week about how the two of you used to go clubbing all the time. How true is that story?
It is true. He stopped me from going out to clubs, because one day I was trying to give him advice about life, and how to manage his life, and he's like, "Yeah, this is from the guy who stays out until eight o'clock in the morning in the clubs?" Just the weight of that hit me, and I was like, "He's right. I can't say anything; I lead by example."

But my thing was to take him out and -- it's almost like when a parent catches their kid smoking, and you make them smoke the pack? That's what I did to him with clubs. [Laughs]

So you took him out so much he got sick of it?
Yeah, he hates clubs [now]. He's seen everything; we've been out until ten in the morning in Miami, we've done it all. And the lesson is, if you go to a club, after like two o'clock, there's no more fun to be had.

How many years did it take for him to learn that lesson, though?
Well, actually I was teaching myself too, going through a mid-life crisis [Laughs], so it took about four years of hard partying. My son and I are like really really good friends, because all through that, I was hanging out with him. I don't really have other friends. My son and my brothers are my friends.



When people see Damon on the show do people who don't know you very well express surprise that you have a 28-year-old son?
I think people are surprised that my son is that old. People look at me and go, "wow." Look, I'm 50; I'm happy and proud to be 50, and I love having my kids because they marked the time in my life. I know where I was; it would all be a blur if I didn't have children. So when people go "Hey, you look too young to have a kid that old, or grandchildren," it brings a smile to my face. But I really love the fact that I have children.

Any trepidation when you were approached to play Damon's dad in 'Happy Endings'?
Not at all; I was excited because I knew we'd have fun on the show. We've worked together; I did a show called 'The Underground' on Showtime, and I wrote and produced and directed my son in a sketch comedy show. So we were in sketches together but because I was directing I didn't really enjoy doing it; it was very hard work. But in this one, everybody else was doing the work and that meant I could just get there on the day [of shooting my scenes] and try to make him laugh and let him try to make me laugh in scenes and break character.

How did you make him laugh?
[Laughs] There was a scene where his wife on the show [Eliza Coupe] brings him a plate of cheese. And [my character is] uptight, he has a military background. And I walk in the house, and she's got her leg up, and I go "I hope that's cheese I smell." [Laughs] That wasn't part of the scene; I just knew that it would make him laugh, because he was in such an awkward position. It made her laugh, too.

'Happy Endings' airs Wednesdays at 10PM ET on ABC.

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