Chris Redd Coming To 'Raising Kanan' Is No Laughing Matter
‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ Exclusive: Chris Redd’s Acting Career Is No Laughing Matter
SNL alum Chris Redd was not a name you would think would end up in the Power Universe, but everyone wants a piece of the drama, including a natural comedian.
Power Book III: Raising Kanan season 4 is in full swing and features two new faces, B-Rilla (Pardison Fontaine) and Early (Chris Redd), a shady car mechanic who still has his ear to the streets and is willing to speak to or help anyone who can throw dollars his way.
Redd’s arrival in Southside Jamaica, Queens, sparks a departure from the norm of the television and movie projects we have grown accustomed to seeing Redd’s name attached to.
The comedian was naturally always fixated to anything related to comedy, whether starring in films like Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping or television sitcoms like Kenan and Bust Down. So, with Power, this is Redd’s opportunity to show that while he is a funny man, his career is no laughing matter.
CassiusLife’s Bernard “Beanz” Smalls spoke with Chris Redd about dipping his feet into that drama pool that is the Power franchise, wanting to try something different, working with Joey Bada$$, and the future of his character Early.
Step into the interview below.
CASSIUSLife: It’s good speaking to you again. I think the last time we spoke to you was for Bust Down with Langston Kerman.
Chris Redd: Yeah, it was. Yes. I was like, dog, your name looks so familiar. I didn’t want to trip. I’m glad you said something first. Yeah, bro. That was great.
Good talking to you. Let’s just jump right into this. How did Chris Redd find his way into Southside Jamaica, Queens? Everyone wants to know, how did you wind up over there?
Ah, sh-t, I took a wrong turn off the highway. But nah, I got the audition and I was like, “Yo.” I was looking for some drama to get my feet a little bit wetter in that arena. And this show was one of my favorites, and that’s no bullsh-t. I’m like… “Oh, hey baby.” I’ve always loved the show and so when I saw the role I was like, “Oh man, that guy looked like he might live at least an episode and a half, so let me see if I can get that.” And when I got the call, it was crazy. I mean, they called me and I had to go to work that next day. It was like one of those things where they were like, “Yeah, we’re shooting right now. What’s up?” I’m like, “Oh yeah.” And it was just something I’ve always been interested in. I love drama work in a different way than I love comedy, but love all the same. And I watch it a lot, so it was just great to be able to be around these great actors and be able to bring my thing to it.
It’s good you brought that up because that’s actually what my next question is going to be. You are mostly known for your comedic roles. And in that nature, were you encouraged to inject any comedy into it early or just keep it on a serious tip?
Nah, man. There was nobody like “Crack jokes.” I was actually cracking jokes off-camera all day. Very long shoots with drama, so it was a lot of time to talk some shit. But I didn’t really want to even think in that way. For me, it was like drama is such a different beast in that the techniques I use for comedy, even from the validation and how to receive validation where I can find it, is different. Because if you’re cracking a joke, laughter will let you know if it worked. But with drama, there’s no way to know that. So it was really me being a little bit of a student of the game again and just staying aware of what I’m bringing to the scene.
And the writers are super strict in drama, which they have to be because they’re weaving a story so strategically that every word matters. So me, comedically, I approach a script, I read the script, it’s amazing, and I have these 55 different jokes back here that I might stick in between there. And that’s a completely different approach than coming here, you got to say these lines, don’t change nothing. If you change one word, it goes up a chain of command, you know what I mean? And it’s just a different world. So I came in there understanding that I had things to learn and adjust. And so I try to not bring any comedy to it and let that naturally happen. Because I’m very expressive, I don’t need to do much to do something funny. So I didn’t want that to get in the way. That was more of my thought process.
Absolutely. You’re right because there were scenes where it wasn’t meant to be funny, but you did get a chuckle out of it during your interactions with Unique and stuff like that. And speaking of Unique, you shared a lot of screen time with him. What was it like working alongside Joey Bada$$ in your episodes?
It was dope, man. I love Joey. I think he’s amazing, man. I think he’s an amazing actor. I think he’s an incredible rapper. Yeah, I think the kid can do it all. He was great. He was the first person I met. I think Patina [Miller] hit me just to send me a message, saying, “Welcome to the show,” and all that. Everybody was super good. MeKai was dope. Everybody was really cool about it. But he was the first guy I spent a significant amount [of time with]. I guess we shot the whole pilot, and I think that on the first day, we shot most of our scenes from the pilot on that day. And we were just kicking it. It was funny; we were riffing.
And then when we were getting the scenes, he’s just acting his ass off. And so I’m like, “You ain’t about to just act your ass off, and I’m not about to do nothing.” So it was great to have somebody on the opposite side going so hard that you wanted just to raise up to that level. So yeah, it was in all ways great working with the kid, man. It was really dope. And it was good to know that I wasn’t going to get cut out the first episode because he’s very important. So if I’m in the scene with him, then I’m definitely going to be in the show, which is great.
If you could play Early in any other Power franchises, which one would it be?
Oh, sh-t. What? The OG would be fire. I mean, the other one ended, Power Force would be tight too. I think they have a new one coming out that’d be tight to be in that. I mean any one of the Powers I would definitely bring Early back. He’s a real fun character, man. So, I think he could find his way into any of those worlds.
We sincerely hope Early makes it through this season because the streets are getting plenty of bodies in Raising Kanan.