-Jabari Banks, welcome. -What's going on?
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Welcome to the show! -Thank you for having me, man.
-We have so much to talk about, including that your last name
is Banks and you're part of the Banks family
and you're from Philly.
-It's a little weird. -It's very, very weird.
But before we even get that weird,
there's another weird thing that I found out
that I want to know is true,
'Cause now you're the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
-Yeah.
-But before that iconic character,
you were another iconic character at Uni--
No, no. Where were you at? Six Flags?
-IT was Six Flags, yeah. I played Bugs Bunny.
I dressed up as Bugs Bunny, in costume.
-You had the -- -Yeah, the head, everything.
The eyeholes were, like, this small.
Yeah, man, it was crazy.
And, actually, I worked there for only one day.
Quit the next day.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-So one day was enough. -One day was enough, man.
It was April, and it was like 110 degrees
inside the costume.
And we were doing, like, the Cupid shuffle and the --
And everything.
So I was like, "Eh, it's not for me."
-"This is not" -- Yeah, you're like, "This is not my gig."
-Unh-unh.
And I actually spent my whole paycheck
on the snack bar at Six Flags.
-That's very expensive, the snack bar.
-It is.
-But what made you go like, "Maybe this is my job"?
"I'm a performer," or what?
-Well, I knew I wanted to perform,
but I actually auditioned to be, like,
a dancer in one of the shows and I didn't make it.
-"You gotta start here, kid." -Exactly.
-"You gotta be Bugs Bunny." -I had to make my rounds.
Right. -But now, look at you, man.
You're crushing it.
I mean, now you're cast as one of the most --
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you, thank you.
-Now, you're very young.
Do -- Were you alive when
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" aired?
-No. No. -Okay, alright.
-I wasn't even a thought. -Okay, wow.
-Yeah, I think it finished airing in '96.
I was born in '98, so --
-Wow. So, did you know anything about the show
or see reruns or --
-My family -- we had the six-season box set.
And we had it in our house, and so we would, like,
play it on rerun, you know, all the time.
-Never thinking you would be that.
-No way. No way. -No. Not at all.
This just went up recently in the Philadelphia airport.
This is a mural of you, by the way.
-That is so sick, man. [ Cheers and applause ]
-I mean, what goes through your mind?
What's your connection to Philly?
-Man, it's crazy, like, when I say, like,
this is -- It's strange.
You know, like, this whole experience
has been spiritual for me.
I actually used to live with my uncle.
His name was Phil.
I promise you. I promise you.
Well, his name was James,
but we call him Phil because he's from Philly.
And I used to live with him every summer,
and I went to school in Philly.
-My brain is breaking in half. -I know, right?
-Yeah. So, you used to call him Uncle Phil.
-Yeah.
-And you lived with him in Philly or visited him in Philly.
-Yep. -And your last name is Banks.
-Yeah.
-And you're part of the Banks family.
-Exactly. -Wow.
-I played basketball.
You know, I got the high-top fade.
-This is made for you. -I know, right?
-Yeah. -It's fate.
-Are you also a rapper? -I do.
I was a rapper before I was an actor.
-You were? -Yeah. Yeah.
-Did you go by Jabari Banks?
-No, I actually went by Indie the Philosopher.
I made it up. It came to me in my dream.
-Sure. Wow! -Yeah.
-Wow! Indie the Philosopher.
-Yeah, It was probably inspired by
Chance the Rapper or something like that.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
And what type of rap? What type of music?
What were you into?
-So, I used to listen to "The College Dropout"
every night before I went to sleep.
-Kanye. -Yeah, Kanye West.
And me and my brother -- we shared the same room.
-Is that the one where he had the mascot outfit or is that --
-What'd you say?
-Didn't he have the -- -Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah!
The bear. Yeah, yeah. The mascot.
I thought you -- 'cause he does another mask now.
-Oh, a different -- I haven't seen his face in three years.
Yeah, exactly, yeah.
But that might have been why you were Bugs Bunny.
-Yeah, exactly.
Oh! I didn't even put 2 and 2 together.
-You see what I'm saying? -Full circle, man.
-Full circle. Everything is crazy, yeah.
But let's talk about "Bel-Air." -Yeah.
-It's a very different take on "The fresh Prince"
that we know -- or that we did know.
But now -- Congrats on the great reviews.
How would you describe this reboot or this new series?
-So, we called it a reimagining, a remix, if you will.
-Yeah, that's good.
-You know, it's a dramatic retelling of
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,"
and we get to take all of these characters
that we know and love but peel back the layers of them
and see, you know, what's actually going on in their life.
And, man, the stakes are high. -Yeah, I know. It's good.
And Will Smith has been
super-supportive of this, obviously.
This is his baby. -Yeah. Yeah.
-He's a really smart guy. -Oh, yeah, he is. He is.
-He's unbelievable. And we love him.
He was our first guest on this show.
-Really?
-Yeah, when we did "The Tonight Show,"
he was our first guest.
Will Smith sat right there, yeah.
-Really? -Yes.
-In this chair? -Right there.
-Oh, wow. -Yeah, that's the real thing.
Yeah, yeah. He'll let you sit there.
-Okay. Right, right.
-We'll call Will after the show and make sure.
-Right. -Did he give you any advice?
-Yeah, man, a lot of advice over these past six months.
I mean, the biggest one that I would say was, you know,
"Just be yourself."
You know, 'cause that's all he was doing when he was
up there being the Fresh Prince, you know, in the original,
you know, just being himself.
And so I had to bring myself to this role
and all my experiences and my upbringing,
and I feel that's what I did.
-Do you do "The Carlton" at all in this...
-I don't. No, no, no. -No, you don't, no.
-But you will see it sprinkled in somewhere.
-It will? -Yeah, yeah.
-You will do it? Yeah.
Yeah, but you won't do it, but Carlton will.
-Oh, Carl-- Mm, maybe. -Yeah. Maybe. Okay.
-Yeah. Right. -No spoilers.
-Exactly, exactly. -Yeah, no spoilers, yeah.
-Do you do The Carlton?
-I did -- [ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Come on, you gotta give it to 'em.
You gotta give it to 'em.
♪♪
-It feels good. I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Jabari Banks in "Bel-Air."
Take a look.
-Know why I'm here from Philly?
-Mm-hmm.
Little scrap on the ball court, got nasty,
now some bad man from Philly want to deal with you.
Rashad Denton, right?
-Yeah.
Yo, Rashad, man -- he's not trying to squash this beef.
He sent a shooter for Tray, and now, apparently,
he knows I'm in Bel-Air, so we've got to
figure something out, 'cause I'm not trying --
-Don't trouble yourself, will.
I'll handle the situation.
-But how are you going to handle it?
-I said I'll handle him.
No need to worry.
No need to trouble your aunt And uncle.
I'll take it from here.
-Come on! Jabari Banks.
Jabari Banks, everybody.
Check out "Bel-Air," streaming now on Peacock.