Chris Tucker

Actor and comedian Chris Tucker has been quiet in Hollywood for the past few years after last appearing in 2007's Rush Hour 3. Since then he's made a return to standup and plans to film his Chris Tucker LIVE performance for upcoming film. Shakefire sat down with Tucker to discuss his tour plans and his return to film.

Shakefire: Tell us about your live tour. You plan to tape both of your Atlanta shows for a film, correct?

Chris Tucker: I’m filming it as a concert movie. You might have seen Eddie Murphy Raw, the famous Eddie Murphy Raw standup comedy movie, Richard Pryor’s Live on the Subset Strip. It’s a lifelong dream for me. I’ve always wanted to do it, you know, coming from the comedian world and eventually getting into films. I always wanted to emulate Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy and do a concert movie/film so it’s a big deal for me to do it now. I’ve been touring for two years all around the United States. I had to go back to scratch, to the comedy clubs for about four years, and worked on my stuff. Then I got into touring for about another two years so I’ve been working on it for a while and finally think I’ve got it to a place where it’s presentable.

SF: What was it like going from one of the biggest names in Hollywood back to standup?

CT: It was humbling. It was humbling because you’ve got to find yourself; find out what you want to talk about and go deep within yourself and find those things that you might not be thinking about talking about but you need to talk about.

SF: So was it very personal for you?

CT: Yeah, definitely. It’s definitely personal. For me, it’s everything because that’s where I came from; standup comedy. That got me to the movies and got me the Friday roles and the Rush Hour roles so it’s definitely my roots, my foundation.

SF: How do you plan to bring your acting experience into your standup?

CT: I reenact everything. I love to paint a picture for my audience. I’m a lot like Richard Pryor in that aspect. I do a lot of acting on stage, acting out and visualizing stuff. I love to do that. I’m into it so much, it just comes out of me.

SF: As a native Georgian, how is it back being in Atlanta?

CT: It’s great, man. I’ve been here several times, but coming home to film is a special thing to me. I talk about a lot of my life in my standup so it makes sense to film it here, and it’s a great city and such a rich place to grow up. It feels good. I pull a lot from my upbringing, my family, so it makes sense filming here.

SF: Did you ever imagine that you’d be doing your standup at the Fox growing up?

CT: You know what, when I was little, never. That never crossed my mind. When I hosted the high school talent show, and I told my first joke and got a big laugh, it felt so good I got an epiphany. I was like, “This is what I want to do the rest of my life.” I never thought it would get to this point where I could come back home and sell out the Fox and do this big show. I never thought that.

SF: It’s been more than five years since your last film performance with 2007’s Rush Hour 3. What was your reasoning behind taking a step back from film and focusing on standup?

CT: I always like to sit back and just wait. I’m a perfectionist. I like to do good stuff and that’s basically what I did and then I worked on my standup. I worked on my standup for about four years and then went on the road and started touring. I went back to where I started from, back to scratch. I pretty much was doing that and just honing my craft and getting sharp…for the movies, just waiting for that good role and then just go from there.

SF: And now you have Silver Linings Playbook coming out later this month.

CT: It was a cool role to do. I’m in the movie throughout and it’s cool because I came in and worked and it wasn’t too tough on me like Rush Hour where you’re there every day. This movie I came in and worked for a few days and a couple of weeks and was in and out. I worked with a great director, David O. Russell, who directed The Fighter. And of course great actors, great cast; Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Jennifer Lawrence, and myself.

It’s a great role. It’s about family issues, a holiday movie; it has a little football in there. Bradley Cooper’s character deals with mental issues. We meet in a mental hospital and become friends. He gets out and my character sort of motivates him to stay positive and to be positive in situations and such. It’s a good role for me; a real fun role and real positive role.

SF: What was it that attracted you to it?

CT: You know what, it has a great director. David O. Russell is a great director. And great writing and the script is great. And then a great ensemble cast that they eventually got together so it really was a lot of different things.

SF: So I have ask the big question; Friday. There’s been talk about Ice Cube doing another movie with the original cast. Have you discussed anything with him about it or anything?

CT: You know, it was a rumor that started out there and my fans really want to see another one but I don’t know if I’ll do another one. We did talk about it and see if we came up with a script I’ll take a look at it, but I don’t think I’ll do another one. We’ll see. I doubt I’ll do another one. I’m looking to do some new stuff but I love that people want to see another movie.

SF: Yeah, everybody’s always asking, “Where’s Smokey?”

CT: I know. I know, man. I hate to let them down but hopefully we’ll give them something new, and they’ll enjoy that.

SF: Any new details about the rumored Rush Hour 4?

CT: Me and Jackie [Chan] are talking about doing something else, and we really want to do another movie. So hopefully we can get another Rush Hour. One more Rush Hour won’t hurt so we’ll see; hopefully in the future.

Chris Tucker will be performing live in Atlanta on Friday, November 9, and Saturday, November 10. Tickets can purchased at foxatltix.com. He will then be visiting New York later on in the month as well as London at a future date. For more information, you can follow him on Twitter at @realctucker.