Tommy Davidson on ‘Poppa’s House’ Reunion With Damon Wayans: ‘Best Thing I’ve Done in 15 Years’

Poppa’s House is a family affair both onscreen and off. In addition to having the Wayans father-son duo as stars, the new CBS sitcom (which received a full-season order in November) has more Wayans family members on the writing staff behind the scenes. This week’s episode brings more chosen family members into the fold when Tommy Davidson reunites with Damon Wayans Sr. and New Girl‘s Lamorne Morris reunites with Damon Wayans Jr. Davidson tells TV Insider that acting with his In Living Color costar again is “the best thing [he’s] done in 15 whole years” because he felt so cared for during filming.

Davidson makes his Poppa’s House debut tonight (Monday, February 3) in an episode all about old friendships. Following the death of Poppa’s (Wayans Sr.) only real friend, he’s looking to connect with new people and hopefully bring this new pal to a Mets game. But Poppa was never good at emotional connections. His only idea is to find his “elevator friend,” a man he used to pull pranks with in their office building elevators. Poppa returns to his old stomping grounds to find this prankster, Jarnold (Davidson), and invites him over for a hang to see if they click.

Davidson has appeared in scores of TV comedies since the In Living Color years (1990-1994), his most notable role since being the instantly recognizable voice of Oscar Proud in The Proud Family and its Louder and Prouder spinoff. Davidson knows his way around a set, and he says that no one runs as efficient a ship as the Wayans. Their TV production expertise, comedic talents, and strong leadership made Davidson feel like someone at work was finally speaking his language.

“It was the best thing I’ve done in 15 whole years when it comes to TV. It was just being with family and being with people that know me,” Davidson tells TV Insider. “It can be a challenge walking onto a set, and nobody knows you, and they don’t know what you’re capable of, and you’re reading the script and got better things to bring to it. But they don’t care. It wasn’t that way with them. They know what I can do. They give you the right sidewalk to walk on, no cracks.”

Robert Voets / CBS

Davidson watched Wayans Jr. grow up, so to see him run a set with his dad was an emotional experience for the comedian. Davidson’s close to tears as he reflects on their history and filming this episode.

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“Damon Jr. has grown into a consummate professional,” the actor raves. “He is a lot further than I was at that age about knowing about writing and production and stuff like that. He’s there and ready. It reminds me of Deion Sanders and his son. And then Damon [Sr.] and Kim [Wayans], what the family brings to production is, they abbreviate, cut off all the stuff that’s not necessary and leave you to do the things that you do. So it doesn’t take all day and night.”

“It’s emotional because my oldest son is the same age as Damon, and they grew up with them every inch of the way. It almost brings tears to my eyes because as bad as life can get, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Davidson adds. “To see that our children have the opportunity to do what we did is so uniquely special because that does not happen in the majority of this world. I got a chance to go around and look and take stock.”

Davidson’s son, Jerzey, joined him on set during the filming of his episode and reconnected with Wayans Jr. The comedian says their welcome was just like arriving at their friends’ home. “It was just like, ‘They’re here! Uncle Tommy’s here!’ And then they saw Jerzey. ‘Jerzey, oh my God! Give me your number!'” Davidson recalls with a smile. “He’s 36, and he’s 36. My son needed that confirmation to go, ‘Oh, wow. okay!'”

Whether Poppa and Jarnold get along outside of the office elevators is the episode’s job to reveal, but Wayans and Davidson’s bond shines through every scene. Tune into the episode to see their reunion and to see that family dynamic come to life onscreen.

Poppa’s House, Mondays, 8:30/7:30c, CBS

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