Q: First, why is the show called The Boondocks?
A: It’s just a reference to the suburbs, that’s all.
Q: Are Huey and Riley different in the TV version than they are in the strip?
A: They talk more and curse more and Riley has cornrows. They’re drawn better, the colors are nicer, and because we are able to expand on the stories for these characters, it adds to their depth. But other than that it’s pretty much exactly the same thing.
Q: Tell us about the other characters.
A: Huey and Riley live with Granddad. There’s Uncle Ruckus who’s a self-hating black man. There’s Tom, who lives next door, and is married to Sarah, and they have a daughter named Jazmine. Tom is another black male perspective, the "not cool" guy. He’s just normal and not an over-the-top geek, but with black people, the bar of cool is so high that you could be normal and be a nerd. Then there’s also Ed the III, who’s a drunken maniac, and Ed Wuncler, who’s the drunken maniac’s grandfather. It’s characters. It’s comedy.
Q: Are these based on any real life people you know?
A: Some of them are based on real people in that they are parodies of real people or satirical representations of real people, but none of them are actually real people.
Q: What was it about Regina King that you liked for the voices of Huey and Riley?
A: Regina didn’t audition for Huey at first. She only wanted to do Riley. We never really found the right Huey voice for the pilot. I would talk to Regina about who to cast for Huey, because whoever got it had to play off Regina. At the end of the day, we always felt like we weren’t getting it, and when the series got picked up, we did a whole other casting search with Regina reading with the perspective voices and still didn’t find anyone.
At a certain point, we realized that maybe she should do both, but I had to talk her into it. She wasn’t jumping at the idea. When Regina read Huey, it was much more interesting than anyone else had done. The studio asked her to do a scene with herself with no preparation. She did both Huey and Riley, back and forth, on the spot and blew us away. It was amazing how passionate she was to get it right when she already had the job.
I always liked the idea of her doing both, because I felt it made the brothers feel related. The voices are similar, but distinct enough that you wouldn’t confuse them. It does give the boys a certain bond, which is really cool.
Q: Can you talk about your other cast members and guest stars?
A: John Witherspoon plays Granddad. I don’t think we could have cast anyone else, because everything John says is funny, and I’ve always been a huge fan. He has already injected so many wonderful catch-phrases into the culture over the last few decades. He’s an amazingly funny guy and also a really wonderful actor. There are moments when we get a little dramatic, and he’s always just right and a lot of fun.
Cedric Yarbrough plays Tom, this slightly awkward guy, and is great at playing him. But he also does so many of the other voices on the show. He’s the voice of Colonel Stinkmeaner, which is one of my favorite performances of the season. It’s just so over-the-top funny.
Gary Anthony Williams is the genius behind Uncle Ruckus. I originally thought that John Witherspoon would be Uncle Ruckus, but when Gary opened his mouth, we were back in the 1700s. He was a slave for real, and that’s what we wanted. Gary brings a bigness to the voice that is incredibly funny. A lot of Ruckus’ jokes are Gary’s ad-libs. We let him do as much improv as he can, because he understands the character so well.
Gabby plays Jazmine and actually looks like her character. It was down to her and a 30-year-old actress who sounded identical vocally. The acting was also nearly the same. Gabby was 9 at the time, and it came down to the sincerity of a child’s voice, which is difficult to mimic. She’s great and has pulled off some remarkable acting. She just knows she’s good.
Jill Talley plays Sarah, Tom’s wife. Jill does a lot of our other characters and fills in as the people in the neighborhood. Like Cedric, she’s great at improv. It’s a really strong cast. They’ve been very supportive and give up a lot of their time to work really hard and get it right. They get the show and are enthusiastic, so we’re lucky.
Guest stars include Ed Asner, who plays Ed Wuncler, a billionaire who lives down the street. I got the idea of him doing a voice when I saw him on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." It’s weird when you can think, "I want him," and he actually shows up, because Ed Asner is a legend.
Charlie Murphy does the voice of Ed the III, and I felt really lucky to get him. He was an amazing part of "Chappelle’s Show" and is really, really funny.
