One of the happiest parts of “Happy Endings” is Brad (Damon Wayans, Jr.) and Jane (Eliza Coupe), the married couple. Brad gets giddy with their little schticks and he’s even having a good time being unemployed, although Jane gets kind of stressed out trying to make everything work out for everyone else.
Earlier this year, we got to chat with Wayans about “Happy Endings,” his stint on the “New Girl” pilot and his participation in his uncle Keenen Ivory Wayans’ “In Living Color” reboot.
CraveOnline: If the Kerkovich Way rears its head again, will Brad know how to handle it this time?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: I feel like he will try, but he will fail and she will somehow pull the wool over his eyes.
CraveOnline: She’s got to have more tricks, right? We only saw the beginning of it.
Damon Wayans, Jr.: Yeah, I can’t wait. I really feel like we’re making a lot of room for comedy in this season. The fact that Brad’s unemployed, as far as Brad and Jane go, there’s a lot of room for us to have the role switching, a bit of me not having the stability of having a job and having to pick oddball jobs, dealing with Max (Adam Pally) who’s a professional unemployed person. It’ll be good to see what happens.
CraveOnline: What other crazy jobs would you like to see Brad have?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: I don’t know, maybe like some Pulp Fiction. He could be a hitman. Maybe just a contract killer, maybe a professional superhero. A model, like some nude painting classes, posing like in Titanic.
CraveOnline: Has it been weird for you to see “New Girl” go on with a new cast?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: Weird? No, I knew they were going to be a hit. I’m really good friends with Max Greenfield and Jake Johnson and Lamorne [Morris]. I wish them all the best. They’re awesome people.
CraveOnline: Was it a great problem to have that your show kept going and you couldn’t do theirs?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: Come on, man. Come on. I’m being paid either way, baby. See what I’m saying?
CraveOnline: And they’re both great shows.
Damon Wayans, Jr.: Both great shows, both funny as hell and great people on them, so I would have felt at home either way.
CraveOnline: Do you talk faster now because of the rhythm of “Happy Endings?”
Damon Wayans, Jr.: No, I actually concentrate on talking slower just because I don’t want to sound like an insane person, like how we sound on our show. We all sound like crazy people.
CraveOnline: Is it really that fast, or is some of it in the editing?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: Definitely some of it’s in the editing, because they’ll have a shot of you and then as soon as you finish your sentence they’ll cut to me. It would speed this interview up so fast if it was being videotaped.
CraveOnline: Do you get to be involved in any of the new “In Living Color?”
Damon Wayans, Jr.: I did. I did a couple of guest spots there. I don’t know what’s going on with that show but I know that I nailed that s***. I nailed all my parts.
CraveOnline: Were they completely original characters you’ve never done before?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: Yeah. Yeah, they were. I play a married man. I play a club goer in another one. I play a crippled guy also. I only did four spots but I had fun.
CraveOnline: Was it just like the shows you must’ve grown up watching them do 20 year ago?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: It’s current for 2012. It’s just as fun as I remember as a child.
CraveOnline: Were you on the set of “In Living Color” growing up?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: Yeah, plenty of times. I was young. I never knew how big the show was so I was just around these people who are like super huge stars now. Jim Carrey and my dad were best friends. He would always be in my house and stuff like that.
CraveOnline: What did you think of those characters Jim Carrey was doing as a kid, Fire Marshal Bill and the bodybuilder woman?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: I thought he was really funny. My brother was obsessed with him. My younger brother was obsessed with Jim.
CraveOnline: If they wait too long to air that, will some of those sketches be outdated?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: Probably. They probably won’t air those.
CraveOnline: Will you be involved in any more Wayans movies?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: If they want me to be in them, I’ll be in them. They’re my uncles. I’ve got to do what they tell me to do, which is at the risk of my career.
CraveOnline: How does it feel to be in a third season of a show?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: It feels good. Never felt it before. Never been in a third season of anything.
CraveOnline: What are “Happy Endings” fans like?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: Obsessive. They get naked, put their mouths on you. No, they’re great. I like that they remember chunks of dialogue. I remember I was in Chipotle one time and these two girls did a choreographed dance of a dance that Adam and I did in one of the episodes in the middle of Chipotle.
CraveOnline: What did the Chipotle customers think?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: It got a little applause. They had a little applause going after they were done.
CraveOnline: Have you found yourself using any of Penny’s words in your vocabulary?
Damon Wayans, Jr.: No, I’m a boy. All her stuff is so girly, like amah-zing, and she abbreviates everything, right?
CraveOnline: Yeah, her abbrevs.
Damon Wayans, Jr.: Abbrevs. She abbrevs evs, everything. I don’t know how you abbreviate “everything” but no, I don’t.
