The Wayans way: 'Poppa's House' brings out the dad in Damon Wayans (2025)

LOS ANGELES – Damon Wayans can’t see himself doing a podcast – even though his character on “Poppa’s House” has one.

“I don’t think anybody is that interesting to sit and listen to for a few hours a week,” he explains. “I’ve got stuff to do, you know. Go write some material, go on stage. It’s like listening to a disc jockey in the morning on a radio station. A real comedian will pull back and use it like an incubator to come up with ideas. And then they’ll go on stage and try to make an act out of stuff they basically would throw away. You put it on the podcast and now you’re trying to give it some value.”

On “Poppa’s House,” Wayans produces his podcast from his home so there aren’t “silos” of people to try and include. Here, podcast guests are brought into the home.

Key to the action: Damon Wayans Jr., who plays a dreamer still living at his father’s place. The two butt heads frequently and must educate the other on the ways of their worlds.

While Junior stars as the son, he’s not the inspiration for the role. Son Michael, who’s also a writer on the show, is the template.

“We have a more contentious, head-butting relationship,” Wayans says. “He’s an artist and very kind of stuck in his ways. He’s learning. He’s growing but what I learned as a parent is they don’t grow only when you want. I’m seeing my son, Michael, come into his own.”

Music – key to the “real” poppa’s house – is a way for Wayans to relax. “I sit and listen to vinyl probably an hour a day,” he says. “You just try to feel the music.” That music room serves as inspiration to, for the show. Artists like Marvin Gaye, he says, “inspire me to try to get to that level. Even though It’s a sitcom, I think we can get to the level of making people reveal something.”

Poppa, he says, is a reflection. “You gotta own a character. Right now, I’m a lot of that character, so it’s easy for me to go in and play him.”

Comedy, Wayans says, requires rhythm, just like music. “It has to be the right word. I listen to comedy (albums), too, and learn from them – Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, George Carlin.

“Unfortunately, comedy today is very kind of safe and boring and everybody’s talking about the same thing. Comedy definitely is an ‘in the moment’ kind of thing.”

Cancel culture, he adds, is a problem. So, too, are critics who try to tell him what he should be talking about. That conversation should be left to the experts. “Jerry Seinfeld could critique my comedy and I will be receptive but if you’ve never bought a joke, sold a joke or told a joke, you’re not qualified.”

That curmudgeonly take is what Executive Producer Dean Lorey was seeking. In the original pilot, Wayans worked at a radio station, then came home. Getting people from both to interact was always cumbersome. Moving poppa’s career to his house “will allow us to bring the life of the family into the life of the show,” he says. Other regulars – including an on-air partner, played by Essence Atkins, and Junior’s wife, played by Tetona Jackson – will help them drive home the show’s premise. According to Wayans: “It’s about one person getting started and one person starting over.”

When set designers started crafting the place that would be called “Poppa’s House,” they ran it by Wayans, who said it looked like some place he would call home.

The podcast will include cameras so characters can be seen and interact.

The rest of the house has ample space for the family to interact. That, Wayans says, is where the relatives really shine. “It’s the most fun we have. It’s like being a little kid again. We laugh and joke and nothing is sacred.”