- It was a party man.
- It was love, respect, and fun.
- It was.
♪ I've got fire in my knees ♪
♪ in my bones like hot sauce and chicken grease. ♪
- You love it and I love it.
Put your hands together, for Rudy Ray Moore.
(cheering)
- I'm Krista Smith, host of the Corner Booth,
and here with me today is Mike Epps and Craig Robinson
and we're talking bout their film,
Dolemite Is My Name.
(jazzy music)
I had never heard of Dolemite or Rudy Ray Moore.
This movie is so fun and so touching
and it has everything in it.
Do you remember the first time you saw any of these movies?
- Me and Craig, we from the midwest,
That's all they play is exploitation movies
and shit out there. - Oh, really?
- I just remember that opening scene.
He was having sex with a white lady
and the husband came home,
and he ended up having to run outside naked,
and, like, went down a cliff or something.
(laughing)
It was okay, this is something different.
I must've been, I don't know, seven?
- And did you have the albums at all?
Did you know about those?
- I didn't really have the albums and stuff.
I got turned on to Rudy Ray Moore later on in life you know.
I had already heard Richard Pryor,
and heard Red Fox and stuff like that so I was like,
I really didn't get it.
You know?
And then, as I got a little older,
I started hearing people saying his slang,
his terms and stuff, you know.
- Like the godfather of rap.
- Yeah. - That's what he's called.
So I know that this had been a passion project
of Eddie's for a while and it had a couple false starts,
but when it finally came time to make it,
what was it like to get that call,
to be like, hey guys, you wanna be in this movie?
- I got the call from my team saying that Craig Brewer,
the director wanted to meet.
So I met, kicked it with him,
he was real cool, but I still had to go audition.
So then, to get that call saying, you know,
that I got the part and was gonna be in this movie.
Eddie and Mike and, you know, Keegan,
It was thrilling,
to say the least. - What was your audition like?
- You go on character, I think I got as close
to 70s gear as I could get.
And then, yeah, read the sights, it wasn't a lot of improv.
- He didn't have to put a wig on either.
- I didn't even read for Ben Taylor.
I read for another character.
- Wow.
- But I think Ben Taylor was always the idea.
- And what about you, Mike?
Where you always with Eddie along the way,
were you part of the process or?
- You got guys in the business that are
in the lane for certain types of films,
I think automatically.
Especially, you get with somebody like Eddie Murphy
who knows how to pick the cast himself.
Because I believe that's what it all boiled down to
was what his vision is and what he wanted to see
and I was glad I was a part of the vision, you know.
- And how was it to work with Eddie?
(laughing)
- Could not have, could not have dreamt it.
- I'm telling you.
- It was a lot of growth there 'cause you gotta,
you know, not fan out.
You gotta, you know, come to play ball.
- You must've had a pinch me moment.
- Yeah, for sure.
- And it happened on camera.
When I go sit and play.
And then we had the moment of. - Yep.
- You know, this is, something big happened.
That was one of those moments.
(laughter) (bongos playing)
(jazzy music)
- So I know you guys are very funny
and you're, like the off the cuff must have been so much fun
and the lightness of this movie.
What was it like?
Just take through a day on set.
- It was a party.
Eddie had his camp over there.
Me and him was right next door.
- Our trailers right next door to each other.
- Right next door to each other.
Wesley Snipes was down the hall.
- Keegan. - Keegan.
The trailer, the makeup and hair trailer girls was,
it was a party, man.
- It was love, respect, and fun.
- It was.
- Yo what the fuck is this?
This shit ain't funny.
I don't get it.
- The fuck are they talking about?
Who is Herbert Hoover?
- And it ain't no brothers in it, either.
(shushing)
- Ay, don't shush me, Sandy Dunkin.
- Is there any item of clothing that you wish
you could take?
- My whole wardrobe.
- You loved it? - For real I loved it.
- Ruth Carter killed it, man.
- She did.
- So did everybody know each other before?
Had you guys known each other in, around,
just being in Hollywood
and being comedians and stuff or?
- For the most part, like different people,
like Mike and I know each other.
- 20 years. - I knew Keegan.
Yeah, 20 years.
- Like, we met him in Canada at the last, just for laughs.
- That was in, that was?
- That was in 98. - 98.
And you know what you said?
- What? - You said, we next.
- I did? - Yep.
- I was just saying some shit. (laughing)
That shit really happened.
(laughing)
- Did you know Rudy Ray Moore before this came your way?
- I met him before.
- You met him? - Yeah.
- Oh, cool.
- I met Rudy Ray Moore before.
- I never met him. - He had a bang on his head.
I said Rudy Ray Moore!
Hey!
I said damn.
You had to be really culturally in tuned
to know of a guy like that, you know?
- I didn't know who he was, I had never met him.
- The comedy of Rudy is his storytelling
and the un-PC of it, the vulgarity of it,
it's just like all of it is so shocking
and you're half laughing at the shock of it
and then you're laughing at the story
of it at the same time,
which is just kinda this perfect recipe.
- It is.
- How, how do you find that in your own comedy
today when you're doing it?
- I mean, we in 2019.
You gotta worry about a little something you say because
times are just different.
It depends on what you say and how you say it, you know?
- What do you hope people take away from this film?
Other than learning about Rudy Ray Moore?
- A lot of education.
And history on something that they didn't even know exist.
They're gonna understand how a lot of us were made,
you know, a lot of black comics.
- You can beat the odds.
But you gotta have a serious belief in yourself.
When nobody else seems to, you can still win.
Ans he had the vision too.
He saw need, he saw him filling that need.
He paid attention to his vision and he believed in it
he believed in himself.
And persevered.
- I've got to get up on that light!
If I get up in that light, with my own movie
I could be everywhere!
I could be everywhere all at once!
- Well it's great to see you guys.
The movie's so good and it's just so inspiring.
- Thank you. - And touching, so.
- Thank you for having us.
- Yeah, thanks for coming by the Corner Booth.