Anthony Anderson On Success of black-ish, “Trump” Episode & Working With Chris Brown

Anthony Anderson

Anthony Anderson has snagged major success for his role as Dre Johnson on the hit ABC series black-ish were he also serves as executive producer. Now, he’s also pulling double duty as host of the ABC version of the game show To Tell the Truth. In a recent interview, Anderson discusses the show’s success, working with Daveed Diggs and Chris Brown. Peep the excerpts below.

On resuming production after the Emmy nomination: 

Ahhh it was pretty cool. This was the 2nd nomination for myself and the 1st for our show. It was exciting jumping back into it with the show being nominated this year

On filming the Disney World episode: 

You know what?! It was fun to shoot, we were actually trying to shoot our first episode back that year in Cuba. Umm, but the infastructure wasn’t up to code for us , you know sketchy internet service and what not so we had to forgo those plans. And Disney Land was the second choice for us actually the first choice then Cuba became an option once Kenya Barris and I came to the White House and met the Ambassador to Cuba.

We started talking about coming over and shooting our show there and they invited us over. We were really excited about that but then it just didn’t work out so we went to the GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH….. Disney World and had a ball. Spent 7 days in Orlando at Disney World you know shooting our show.

On if filming in Cuba still being an option: 

I hope so! I know our lines of communication are still open with the ambassador of Cuba. It’s just about having the right storyline and making sure can have a adequate film crew to take part in this. I would love to go over and shoot our show there.

On how show ideas originate: 

You know they rise organically. In terms of the election, that was something Kenya decided he wanted to do after we had our election. Like most Americans they thought Hilary Clinton was a shoo-in and when that didn’t happen you know the collective gasp. Like Whhhhhoa we did not expect this and because of that Kenya felt compelled to write this episode. The other subject matters those are things that we all go through personally as a writing staff  as a crew and cast here.

So you know we like to pull from our personal lives and tell these personal stories from the point of view of The Johnson family. And that seems to resonate with our viewing public across the board. That’s what we do and thats what we will continue to do.

On the popular “Lemons” episode which aired just weeks after the election: 

That’s one of the instances where we did pull something from the headlines and it was a rather quick show. After the election, we shot it maybe 2 weeks after the election. It was rather quick and it was something Kenya felt passionate about and wanted to get this show out. And have it air around the time President Trump was being sworn into office. So it was timely and topical.

On working with Tony Award winner Daveed Diggs: 

It was great you know; it was great ’til i found out he couldn’t get hook up on Hamilton so then it just became another actor I employed. No but, we’re having a great time. Daveed Diggs is a great actor — brings another dynamic to the show with his character injects in position to Andre. So, he was and is a welcomed addition.

On working with Chris Brown: 

It was great working with Chris. I mean I’ve known Chris Brown since he was 14-years-old. I had no idea he was going to do our show or had a interest in the show. Kenya was out at dinner one time and Chris saw him said ‘Look hey man I’m a fan of the show, would love to be on a episode.’ And this episode came about and we offered this role to Chris. People gonna be pleasantly surprised when this episode airs.

On black-ish’s success: 

It was great, it was a stellar year for our cast and our crew. You know to be recognized at all these award shows. Couldn’t have asked for a better year. Tracee coming home with the Golden Globe winning for all of us. You know one win, we all win.

On being the new host of  To Tell The Truth on ABC:

It’s been around 6 decades now — you know, yeah I was familiar with it growing up. When they came to me with the opportunity to host they were like ‘Have you heard of this show?’ Have I? Of course, who hasn’t? It’s a great time that were having I get to employ my mother and have her along side me on the show.

By:@eccentricglow