Full Article Text
00
By MICHAEL GILTZ
Jamie Foxx is a 'super
.tar. Last night he host
ed "Saturday Night
Live." doing wickedly
funny imitations of Morgan
Freeman and Sean "Puffy"
Combs.
His sitcom '"I'be Jamie
FoJC[ Show," is'a long-run
ning hit airing on the WB
on Friday nights. His debut
R&B album
respectably on the charts.
His stand-up concerts draw
big crowds.
And his complex, mature
performance as the brash
young quarterback in
Oliver Stone's "Any Given
Sunday" got the best
reviews of a star-studded
cast (outshining AI Pacino,
Dennis . Quaid, and
Cameron ·Diaz).
"It's incredible." says
Foxx. "I've been floating the
whole time and I'm not
coming down."
But unless you're Afiican
American , you're probably
just getting to know who
Jamie Foxx is.
His Tv series -about a
youn~ comic from Texas
who work ~ in a hotel while
waiting for his big break -
has been a smash since its
debut in 1996 ... at least
among blacks. Among
African American viewers,
it's been ranked No. I or
No.2 every year. But with
today's fragmented Nielsen
family. success among one
demographic no longer
translates into a wider
audience .
"TV's gone through a
change," Rays Fon during a
break from rehearsals for
last night's "SNL." "It really
is kin!! of separate now, sad
to say. When there was
'Chico and the Man' and
'The Jefl'ersons' and 'AU
in the Family,' everybody
could watch those shows
together ..
"Now, since ·there are ao
many networks and' ao
many channels, you're kind
of locked into your own
kind sometimes, I guess
you could say." Fir a performer like
Poxx -who idolizes
.. 1I·around entertainers
like Sammy Davis Jr.
-being a niche player ill
not enough. The 32-year
old's master plan to over
come that -which basical
Jy. involve. :working llery!
. hard. and making,the rilOet:
of opportunities when they NEW YORK POST, SUNDAY, JANUARY 9, 2000
Who is the most popular TV personality in America among :~, .
blacks? His name is Jamie Foxx. He has a hit WB sitcomjmd ·;
most white people have never heard of him. Until now. Fox'x<' .
has the flashiest, funniest role in Oliver Stone's "Any Given
Sunday" and just hosted "Saturday Night live."
Meet the new Millennium Man ...
.. ;.:' :.
mae -ill right on track. JUice up hiB ahow for a' We'll have a little heat." it an ethnic" -Fawlty.
The next step is to end his finale.·1 want to finish it Foxx,. who'. always had a Towers.· .
litcom -which ill in the up with a bang. Now that Itrong behind-the-llCenee 'rm going to chanIe the
midat of its fourth eeaaon the movie. are happening, I role on the ahow. aleo plane ahow a little bjt: ..,. FOD,
-afte.{ ODe lIIore~ .. , ,. !Can .aalt .. (0 .. ·. mo,-e .. gueat. . to Q"ng •. 1ittl ... .Of~ I'IUItu, ' .. "give the ahow • little more,
'It'l really ·exciting." aaya ,.tara. Gueat. atars won't. rity.to the aiUy eoinga,on :adu neaa to it." . .
Foxx. about. the chance: to think, 'Oil, ifljust the WB.'. ,that prompted him to label' Since "11Ie Jamie Foxxi
1 Show' is essentially a ait-
com the whole family can .
watch, adding a little more
edginess to it might bring
some controversy -but
that wouldn't be the first
one fo~ Foxx.
II£m in the small town
oC Terrell, Texaa, FQlO[
ed to LA to be a
sfand-up comic bat.
found ~lf selling shoes .
at Thorn oMcAnn. Then the .
big break. came: a role on the .
acclaimed sitcom "Roc..
~les S. Dutton.
Sho4ingly, Foxx's charao-: .
ter never made it onto the
air.
"It was devastating,'
",' admit. the actor. "I was in'
Atlanta, hanging Qut' with
this girl I just met.· Ria
voice drops t9 a aniooth,
lover's baritone. "'Yeah,
movies, TV, and everything.'
Ring. Hello? 'Ub,-yeali,
Jamie; it'. not looking cood.'
OK. Wow. Scramble, acram
ble scramble .'
But then his ,-ral break
came -an open caa~g
call (or "10 Uvinc Color"
that Poxx'. own representa
tivee advised against hi.
doing.
He beat out 300 people for'
a slot on the red-hot .ketch , : "','
NEW YORK POST, SUI'I>AY, JANUASCY 9. 2000
TVSundav .,
determined gal who owed a
great deal to another idol of
FOD'. -the late rup
Wilson's Geraldine .
lti0ther appropriate
twist? The network
that aired "In Living
olor" W88 Fox,
though it proved just plain
crazy by running the .how
into the ground after airing
repeate two or three times a
week.
'They burned it to a crisp,"
laughs Foxx.
. But he'd already made his
mark -even finaIJy gueet
starring.oo a.few epi.oodeo of
"Roc. " Then came more con-
troverSy.
Fnxx got his own show, a
harmless bit of silliness that
clicked immediately with
black audiences. But the
Beverly Hills chapter of the
NAACP labeled it as little
more than buffoonery . (The
ating of that charge was
removed a bit when the
national chapter for the
NAACP nominated FOD for
Beet Actm in a Sitcom.)
He soldiered on, finally ful
filling a dream of starring in
a movie with 1997's "Booty
Call" -only to have Bill
Coeby caB it an embarrass
ment that should have never
been made. Foxx answered
his critics -sometimes
angrily, sometimes adroitly
-but always with humor.
Even "Any Given Sunday"
had its tempest in a teapot:
Foa got a role earmarked
for Sean "Puffy" Combs.
Combs says he dropped out
after delays in the shooting
schedule conflicted with his
recording plans; others say
he couldn't cut it as a quar
terback.
Certainly Foxx could. A
fine student in high school,
Foxx was also a ster quar
terback -even though as
early as second grade he
knew what he really want
ed to be was a comedian
and a ainger.
Now he'. pushing towards
the goel line with two more
movies due out this year -
-Inconvenienced,· a roman
tic comedy ooetarring Nia
Lonjr, and "Bait," a thriller
chiller !2JM' melt CCHltAr-
tfi· ~vi u!0F:z:x atara in
of them. It's defi
nitely a whole new
ball game.
"You don't i'eiilly notice it
until you _ the box office,"
aa~ Foxx: "The next thing
you know 7O"'re talJdng to
Alec Baldwin and Billy
Baldwin and they're aaying,
'Hey man,l heard the movie
was it.' '
"You're talking to Samuel
Jackson when you were just
comedy .how -which for a stage name to the unisex used to hanging with your
time was far more influen- "Jamie" because comedy home~ and kicltin' it. That's
tial (and certainly funnier) club bookers were alwa~ a different thing.
than "SNL." looking for more women to "You have to open your
'"1'0 be on 1n Liying Color' balance out an evening. So eyee a little wider and make
'W88 .the' hkIOest .thlng' fn' it wu ·appropriate thAt hi.' ·deciaion;. tittle blOW '\:fear;
the· ... orld.fbr ·rIo.iJ,~ h4!laayS.· t break"Out ·· eharacter ' on .iy becaua.'1~ 'reaJlY'IC!Ounta
"It Wa. hot .~·· '.,", J "·Color" "Was 'Wandlo the no ... ~ he ... ~. "Becaa"'" you
Foxx had changed his Ugly Woman, a ferociously can't go back.·
By MICHAEL GILTZ
Jamie Foxx is a 'super
.tar. Last night he host
ed "Saturday Night
Live." doing wickedly
funny imitations of Morgan
Freeman and Sean "Puffy"
Combs.
His sitcom '"I'be Jamie
FoJC[ Show," is'a long-run
ning hit airing on the WB
on Friday nights. His debut
R&B album
respectably on the charts.
His stand-up concerts draw
big crowds.
And his complex, mature
performance as the brash
young quarterback in
Oliver Stone's "Any Given
Sunday" got the best
reviews of a star-studded
cast (outshining AI Pacino,
Dennis . Quaid, and
Cameron ·Diaz).
"It's incredible." says
Foxx. "I've been floating the
whole time and I'm not
coming down."
But unless you're Afiican
American , you're probably
just getting to know who
Jamie Foxx is.
His Tv series -about a
youn~ comic from Texas
who work ~ in a hotel while
waiting for his big break -
has been a smash since its
debut in 1996 ... at least
among blacks. Among
African American viewers,
it's been ranked No. I or
No.2 every year. But with
today's fragmented Nielsen
family. success among one
demographic no longer
translates into a wider
audience .
"TV's gone through a
change," Rays Fon during a
break from rehearsals for
last night's "SNL." "It really
is kin!! of separate now, sad
to say. When there was
'Chico and the Man' and
'The Jefl'ersons' and 'AU
in the Family,' everybody
could watch those shows
together ..
"Now, since ·there are ao
many networks and' ao
many channels, you're kind
of locked into your own
kind sometimes, I guess
you could say." Fir a performer like
Poxx -who idolizes
.. 1I·around entertainers
like Sammy Davis Jr.
-being a niche player ill
not enough. The 32-year
old's master plan to over
come that -which basical
Jy. involve. :working llery!
. hard. and making,the rilOet:
of opportunities when they NEW YORK POST, SUNDAY, JANUARY 9, 2000
Who is the most popular TV personality in America among :~, .
blacks? His name is Jamie Foxx. He has a hit WB sitcomjmd ·;
most white people have never heard of him. Until now. Fox'x<' .
has the flashiest, funniest role in Oliver Stone's "Any Given
Sunday" and just hosted "Saturday Night live."
Meet the new Millennium Man ...
.. ;.:' :.
mae -ill right on track. JUice up hiB ahow for a' We'll have a little heat." it an ethnic" -Fawlty.
The next step is to end his finale.·1 want to finish it Foxx,. who'. always had a Towers.· .
litcom -which ill in the up with a bang. Now that Itrong behind-the-llCenee 'rm going to chanIe the
midat of its fourth eeaaon the movie. are happening, I role on the ahow. aleo plane ahow a little bjt: ..,. FOD,
-afte.{ ODe lIIore~ .. , ,. !Can .aalt .. (0 .. ·. mo,-e .. gueat. . to Q"ng •. 1ittl ... .Of~ I'IUItu, ' .. "give the ahow • little more,
'It'l really ·exciting." aaya ,.tara. Gueat. atars won't. rity.to the aiUy eoinga,on :adu neaa to it." . .
Foxx. about. the chance: to think, 'Oil, ifljust the WB.'. ,that prompted him to label' Since "11Ie Jamie Foxxi
1 Show' is essentially a ait-
com the whole family can .
watch, adding a little more
edginess to it might bring
some controversy -but
that wouldn't be the first
one fo~ Foxx.
II£m in the small town
oC Terrell, Texaa, FQlO[
ed to LA to be a
sfand-up comic bat.
found ~lf selling shoes .
at Thorn oMcAnn. Then the .
big break. came: a role on the .
acclaimed sitcom "Roc..
~les S. Dutton.
Sho4ingly, Foxx's charao-: .
ter never made it onto the
air.
"It was devastating,'
",' admit. the actor. "I was in'
Atlanta, hanging Qut' with
this girl I just met.· Ria
voice drops t9 a aniooth,
lover's baritone. "'Yeah,
movies, TV, and everything.'
Ring. Hello? 'Ub,-yeali,
Jamie; it'. not looking cood.'
OK. Wow. Scramble, acram
ble scramble .'
But then his ,-ral break
came -an open caa~g
call (or "10 Uvinc Color"
that Poxx'. own representa
tivee advised against hi.
doing.
He beat out 300 people for'
a slot on the red-hot .ketch , : "','
NEW YORK POST, SUI'I>AY, JANUASCY 9. 2000
TVSundav .,
determined gal who owed a
great deal to another idol of
FOD'. -the late rup
Wilson's Geraldine .
lti0ther appropriate
twist? The network
that aired "In Living
olor" W88 Fox,
though it proved just plain
crazy by running the .how
into the ground after airing
repeate two or three times a
week.
'They burned it to a crisp,"
laughs Foxx.
. But he'd already made his
mark -even finaIJy gueet
starring.oo a.few epi.oodeo of
"Roc. " Then came more con-
troverSy.
Fnxx got his own show, a
harmless bit of silliness that
clicked immediately with
black audiences. But the
Beverly Hills chapter of the
NAACP labeled it as little
more than buffoonery . (The
ating of that charge was
removed a bit when the
national chapter for the
NAACP nominated FOD for
Beet Actm in a Sitcom.)
He soldiered on, finally ful
filling a dream of starring in
a movie with 1997's "Booty
Call" -only to have Bill
Coeby caB it an embarrass
ment that should have never
been made. Foxx answered
his critics -sometimes
angrily, sometimes adroitly
-but always with humor.
Even "Any Given Sunday"
had its tempest in a teapot:
Foa got a role earmarked
for Sean "Puffy" Combs.
Combs says he dropped out
after delays in the shooting
schedule conflicted with his
recording plans; others say
he couldn't cut it as a quar
terback.
Certainly Foxx could. A
fine student in high school,
Foxx was also a ster quar
terback -even though as
early as second grade he
knew what he really want
ed to be was a comedian
and a ainger.
Now he'. pushing towards
the goel line with two more
movies due out this year -
-Inconvenienced,· a roman
tic comedy ooetarring Nia
Lonjr, and "Bait," a thriller
chiller !2JM' melt CCHltAr-
tfi· ~vi u!0F:z:x atara in
of them. It's defi
nitely a whole new
ball game.
"You don't i'eiilly notice it
until you _ the box office,"
aa~ Foxx: "The next thing
you know 7O"'re talJdng to
Alec Baldwin and Billy
Baldwin and they're aaying,
'Hey man,l heard the movie
was it.' '
"You're talking to Samuel
Jackson when you were just
comedy .how -which for a stage name to the unisex used to hanging with your
time was far more influen- "Jamie" because comedy home~ and kicltin' it. That's
tial (and certainly funnier) club bookers were alwa~ a different thing.
than "SNL." looking for more women to "You have to open your
'"1'0 be on 1n Liying Color' balance out an evening. So eyee a little wider and make
'W88 .the' hkIOest .thlng' fn' it wu ·appropriate thAt hi.' ·deciaion;. tittle blOW '\:fear;
the· ... orld.fbr ·rIo.iJ,~ h4!laayS.· t break"Out ·· eharacter ' on .iy becaua.'1~ 'reaJlY'IC!Ounta
"It Wa. hot .~·· '.,", J "·Color" "Was 'Wandlo the no ... ~ he ... ~. "Becaa"'" you
Foxx had changed his Ugly Woman, a ferociously can't go back.·