Hear our full chat on my podcast “Beyond the Fame with Jason Fraley.”
His supporting roles made us laugh in beloved franchises like “Friday” and “The Hangover.”
Now, comedian Mike Epps will crack up MGM National Harbor on Friday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 7.
“I can’t wait to come to D.C.,” Epps told WTOP. “D.C.’s like a second home to me, man. I love D.C., I love the people, I love the fact that they understand comedy. That’s one of my spots. … I’m more about the people, man. There’s only so much and so long you can talk about politics, so I learn more about people, relationships, my own stuff.”
Born in Indianapolis in 1970, Epps grew up admiring legends like Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy before helping to launch a new generation of comics, moving to Brooklyn to star in HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam” (1994).
“It was a break, but the big break was me and Ice Cube,” Epps said. “That got me in show business.”
Indeed, Ice Cube had just starred in F. Gary Gray’s comedy hit “Friday” (1995) when he asked Epps to join the cast as Day-Day Jones in the next two sequels “Next Friday” (2000) and “Friday After Next” (2002).
“How could you not be a fan of the ‘Friday’ movies?” Epps said. “That was a cult movie for us that put a bird’s-eye view on how our life is in the hood. People fell in love with it, so of course I was trapped and wrapped up in that.”
He also played the pimp Baby Powder in “How High” (2002) across rappers Method Man & Redman.
“Method Man & Redman is definitely part of the culture,” Epps said. “Like the ‘Friday’ movies, these are culture pieces that are just sitting there that are going to live on and on and on like Cheech & Chong.”
Epps worked with his personal idol Martin Lawrence in “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins” (2008) and that same year replaced Lawrence to voice the main character of Boog in the animated flick “Open Season 2” (2008).
“Martin Lawrence is my hero because he represented who we were,” Epps said. “Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor wasn’t really our time, we were just kids watching grown men be great, but Martin Lawrence? Oh my God, he is the G.O.A.T. … He’s underrated! The work Martin did blows out 90% of the stuff they’re putting up on the shelf. The man laid it down. … Eddie Murphy put the padlock on it, but Martin Lawrence created a whole new lock and key!”
Soon after, Epps was cast as Black Doug in “The Hangover” (2009) and “The Hangover Part III” (2013), starring across Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Ken Jeong, before playing an absinthe dealer in “Girls Trip” (2017), sharing the screen with Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Tiffany Haddish and Jada Pinkett Smith.
“I always felt like I was a Robert Horry or Dennis Rodman type of player — I never really felt like I was the real player on the team, but I’d always come in for big shots,” Epps said. “That’s a cool position. I appreciate it.”
He’s also tried other genres like horror flicks in “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” (2004) and “Meet the Blacks” (2012), musicals like “Sparkle” (2012) and biopics like “Dolemite is My Name” (2019). He even played Richard Pryor in both the Nina Simone biopic “Nina” (2016) and the HBO series “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” (2022).
“I’m a man of many colors and faces,” Epps said. “I put on a lot of different hats at different times.”
More recently, he starred in the Netflix sitcom “The Upshaws” (2021) created by Regina Y. Hicks and Wanda Sykes, and Amazon’s “I’m a Virgo” (2023) created by Boots Riley. Soon, he’ll appear across Natalie Portman in the Apple TV+ miniseries “Lady in the Lake,” set in 1960s Baltimore and based on the book by Laura Lippman.
“‘The Upshaws is one of them shows that started off from an idea, that turned into a script that turned into some success,” Epps said. “Everybody seems to like it. It’s very, very modern, up to date and a lot of people can relate to it. We’re speaking about some real facts, some present facts. … [‘I’m a Virgo’] was real. It was the real deal.”
Hear our full conversation on my podcast “Beyond the Fame” below:
