TV PREVIEW
“Chris Tucker Live,” available starting Friday, Netflix
Decatur native Chris Tucker is the anti-Kevin Hart.
Unlike the ubiquitous Hart, 43-year-old Tucker keeps his TV and film slate relatively light. His last movie release? A supporting role in the 2012 hit “Silver Linings Playbook,” his first non-“Rush Hour” film in 15 years. His last big TV gig? Hosting the BET Awards two years ago.
He’s not a celebrity who wears out his welcome or spends obsessive amounts of time on social media. (He has posted all of two photos on his Instagram account.)
But he is now doing an Ang Lee film, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” (which has filmed in Atlanta), and promoting his first stand-up special, “Chris Tucker Live,” available Friday for Netflix subscribers.
The 90-minute concert was shot at the Fabulous Fox Theatre.
“I taped it awhile ago,” Tucker said in a phone interview from Los Angeles last week. “I talk about my family. I talk about all the friendships I’ve had over the years, going to celebrity events. It’s a lot of fun.”
The high-energy, highly physical show opens with Tucker dancing to James Brown’s “Sex Machine,” then jumps into dating and his criteria for whom he wants in a mate.
“You have to be more than fine. … You’ve got to be able to fill out a 1099,” he told the crowd, alluding to his now-resolved multimillion-dollar tax debt. Then he added: “That’s the last time I let Wesley Snipes help me out with my taxes!”
He weaved stories about being in a music video with Michael Jackson, his hardscrabble childhood in Decatur and his troubles at school.
“I used to get on teachers’ nerves,” Tucker said at the Fox. “They’d get mad. ‘If you act up, Chris, I’m going to call your mama!’ ‘You’re going to call my mom, you’ll have to pay the phone bill because the phone’s been cut off for two weeks!”
He said he chose Netflix as the outlet because “they can reach the world. I have fans all over the world because of my movies. Everyone is streaming now.”
And the Fox Theatre was a no-brainer to tape the special.
“I saw great comedians there growing up,” Tucker said. “I saw Damon Wayans there when I was still coming up. I had a great moment with him. I was up in the balcony, but after the show, I made it to the stage and shook his hand. I said, ‘I’m going to be like you!’ He looked at me like I was crazy. I’m sure he doesn’t remember it, but I know it happened!”
Tucker said he has focused in recent years on stand-up, touring the world from Australia to the Middle East to Asia.
The actor treasures his personal life and declined to comment about Fox 5 anchor Cynne Simpson, whom he is allegedly dating. Photos of the couple are scattered around the Web.
But he is willing to own up to a friendship with occasional Atlantan Justin Bieber. They recently taped a Snapchat video together. “I’m like a mentor to him,” Tucker said. “Every time I see him, I try to give him a little big brother advice. He’s a great kid. I’m really proud of him.”
