Tomorrow night on Fox at 8p Michael Strahan is going to make his acting debut in the hysterical comedy Brothers, and had I not told you this was first acting role you never would’ve guessed it. Former NY Giants’ defensive end Michael Strahan is playing a role that is a real stretch for him…a former football player. Well that is pretty much as much that the two have in common because on the show he moves home to the house he bought for his parents and brother because his manager ran off with all of his money. Michael and his brother Chill don’t get along because he still blames him for the accident that left him in the wheelchair and the digs that both of them make towards each other will have you LYOA. Even though they don’t get along in front of the camera, it is a much different story when these two old friends are off camera. Well sort of, he told me that Chill’s influence on the set has everyone picking on him and in fact it even worked on me too as you will see by the end of the above interview. But it is all in fun as he told me “The key to working here is if you show up and you expect to work and act like it is work, you are not welcome. We show up to have fun and enjoy ourselves and laugh because this is a comedy. If you are not laughing behind the scenes, you are definitely not going to make people laugh when they watch the show.” And believe you will be laughing because not only is the writing brilliant their timing and chemistry is just perfect.
Another thing he told me is that Chill and him sit down with the writers and share ideas from their lives and experiences that will work for the show. And his humor off-camera definitely plays into his on-camera character of Michael Trainor. He also told me that his TV parents CHH Pounder and Carl Weathers are a lot like his own parents because they are funny without trying! You are so going to love the interaction between the two brothers and their parents, their are just so many hilarious one liners between the four of them.
So when I asked him what he wanted to let you know about the show to get you to watch, here is what told me “The is show is about family. The show is intended to make you laugh. Intended to make you feel, that no matter how much Chill and I get on each other, no matter how bad the situation is that at the end of the day you always got your family to go home to. They may rag on you. They may remind you of who you really are and all those things. There’s always that under lying feeling of love from your family and the opportunity to laugh.” And laughing you will do! So make sure to check out Brothers tomorrow and every Friday night on Fox for a family show that will make you laugh and laugh and laugh!!!
On Friday night on Fox at 8p, the funniest family sitcom in a really long time is going to premiere. Brothers is a show about two brothers who are forced to get along again after the one who moved away moves back home. Mike Trainor (Michael Strahan) plays a former-NFL player who moves home to the house he bought for his parents and brother because his manager ran off with all of his money. Daryl “Chill” Mitchell plays his brother, who still blames Mike for the accident that left him in a wheelchair and is not happy that his brother is back in their life. CCH Pounder and Carl Weathers play their parents who only want their two sons to get along. Now it might not sound that funny the way I described it, but there are so many ONTD one liners and great chemistry between the cast that you will be LYAO!!!
Yesterday I was on the set of this hysterical show and I spoke to Daryl “Chill” Mitchell about the show that was prepping its 7th episode with special guest star Snoop Dogg who is playing a lawyer. I interviewed him on the swing set for this episode and he told me their whole set is a grown up one because the cast likes to have a lot 18 and older type of fun when they are working. When you are there you can tell how much they are all enjoying working together and this recently created family really is one. In fact Chill told me his kids have adopted Michael Stahan as their uncle, but he joked to me that he didn’t want his long time friend in his family!
Another guest star on an earlier episode is someone Chill considers family and that is his friend of over 30 years Mike Tyson. So going from a real life boxer to one that played one on the big screen, he told me that after seeing the movie The Comebacks he had to have Carl Weathers play his dad! I bet Carl is really happy he did that movie now.
The show’s cast all have a lot of input on the writing of the show and Chill told me you too can help out in that department. If you think something might work on the show send him a Tweet over at DarylChill! In fact he has already gotten some ideas for the show from Tweets. He added that he is really open to Tweets from other people in wheelchairs like himself that might have some ideas for the show.
When you meet Chill, you are sincerely inspired by him. In 2001 he was in motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed from the mid-chest down. Instead of becoming bitter, he remains extremely positive. In another interview I did with him he told me he was like that before the accident, so why change. But he is making a change for people with disabilities on and off the camera. He has the Daryl Mitchell Foundation that’s mission is to bring awareness, education and advocacy for those impacted by spinal cord injuries. He also is the Minority Outreach spokesperson for the Christopher Reeve Foundation. And now on Friday nights at 8p, he has a great forum to get his platform out there. As he told me he is fortunate for the people around him like “Fox for taking the chance at casting an African American with a disability as a lead in a television show, which I don’t know, if that has been heard of yet. So we are looking for it now and we can’t find it. So you know we are trail blazing and you are seeing history. So this is monumental, like I said this is a movement. This is a TV show/movement.” So you might wonder how does he feel about another Fox show that has a character in a wheelchair, but the actor is not paralyzed in real life. At the Fox TCA day he told us it doesn’t bother him as long as the guy can act. With that one statement he won me over, but actually I had already seen the pilot for the show Brothers and I was already a huge fan! And I promise you, you will feel the same way I do when you find yourself laughing uncontrollably at this hilarious show this Friday and every Friday on Fox at 8p! So make sure to check it out!!!
Before Carl Weather was playing a man married to CCH Pounder on Fox’s Brothers, he was married to a woman who was getting a “nude” picture painted of her by JJ on Good Times. How much fun was it to see the 26 year old (with his hair and mustache again) making his acting debut in that 1975 episode.
Before Daryl “Chill” Mitchell was making us laugh on Fox’s Brothers, he was cracking us up in House Party. How much of a boyish face did the 24 year old actor have in the 1990 movie?
On September 25th Fox will debut the hysterical Brothers, a story about a former-Football player who moves back to the house he bought for his parents after his manager blows all his money and has to deal with his brother who hates him because he blames him for the car accident that left him paralyzed when he was in HS. OK, that totally does sound funny, but the show is. I have not laughed as hard watching a sitcom since I can’t remember. When I put the pilot in my computer on the plane, I thought the show would put me to sleep, but instead it re-energized me with laughter.
So today during the Fox TCA, I was curious to see if my excitement for the show would still be there after listening to the cast and crew talk about it and yes it is still there!!! Heck even more so! So here is what made me love Brothers even more.
The gap teeth jokes will keep coming
Brothers will handle Carl Weathers’ poss Alzheimer’s delicately
CCH Pounder says it is like riding a bicycle to get back into Comedy
Michael Strahan says the gap tooth is the elephant in the room. He knows it is funny cause his kids even make fun of it.
I didn’t know that Daryl Mitchell really was in a wheelchair when I saw the pilot. He was in a paralyzed in a motorcyle ax in 2001.
Daryl Mitchel says since the ax, he say people gave him a chance out of respect and roles were rewritten for him.
Michael Strahan says that best thing about playing Football for 15 years is he doesn’t have to work.
Strahan says he looks forward to Fox NFL Sundays because its fun and feel right
Daryl on non-wheelchair actors playing roles in a wheelchair. As you long as they can act he is fine. If they can’t produce then he has a problem
Someone called Carl Weather Mr Foreman. He laughed and said now I’m being promoted to George Foreman!!!
Carl Weather says Strahan and Mitchell are like his owns sons that are that age
Only Daryl aka Chill is allowed to write according to Carl Weathers. Strahan says some stuff is unrealistic, like an upcoming ep and a girl prefers Chill over him
How excited am I for Brothers, as huge as the gap between Strahan’s teeth and you should be too. So prepare to laugh your a$$ starting on September 25th on Fox!!!
