Kansas City’s Eddie Griffin was a successful comedian who made a smooth transition to TV and movies by being typecast as a variety of flashy, trash-talking, jive dudes who weren’t that much of a stretch from his stand-up act. Among the feature films on his extensive resume’ are Undercover Brother, My Baby’s Daddy, Scary Movie 3, The New Guy, Double Take, Foolish, and Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. Here, Eddie reflects on reprising the role of T.J. Hicks in the Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, a sequel in which he again pimps the title character played by Rob Schneider.
KW: What was it like working with Rob Schneider again?
EG: The first day on the set, they yelled, “Action!” and the chemistry just clicked. Certain people you just got chemistry with. Going into it, I knew his retarded sensibility, and he knew my ignorant sensibility, so it becomes retard-ignorant.
KW: How was it working with a first-time director, Mike Bigelow, this time around?
EG: Mike’s just one of the fellas. And it was cool that his last name was Bigelow. How’d that happen? Bigelow’s just real laid back. You know what I’m saying?
KW: Yep.
EG: He’s got a little off sense of humor. Plus, he can keep us balanced, when we go here, here, here. He’s there with the orchestra stick. Cool.
KW: How did you like shooting on location in Amsterdam?
EG: I became acclimated to Amsterdam in about five minutes. It just made it rough to get to the set the next day, because Amsterdam is the adult Disneyland. So, the next day, you’re coming in asking, “Anybody got some Blue Drops? [laughs] What’s my line again?”
KW: Why does this Deuce Bigalow character work?
EG: Rob has that innately. He’s just one of them guys that’s got a lot of heart. He’s a charmer that can turn it on just like that. [snaps his fingers] His character is like a kid in a candy store in Amsterdam. He’s like, “Wow, look at that!” Just very unassuming. Deuce is the kind of person who, no matter what your affliction is, he’ll find a way to help you deal with that affliction. Like the woman with the hunchback. He gets her a backpack, kinda like Dora the Explorer. [sings in a falsetto] Backpack! Backpack!
KW: What do you think of the Happy Madison production team which has been behind a lot of Rob Schneider’s and Adam Sandler’s movies?
EG: The partners you grew up with in the ‘hood, that’s how they are together. They probably all went to college together. That’s my take on it when I see ‘em all hanging out together. You know what I’m saying?
KW: Yep.
EG: They just come up with these ideas, man. And each one has a different attribute that they bring to this pie we call a pizza, the Euro-Gigolo pizza. Just watching them putting it together and how they work together on the set, whispering in Rob’s ear, Rob whispering in their ears, and then they get their little huddles, it’s real cool how they work together.
KW: How would you describe your character, the pimp T.J.?
EG: T.J.’s an entrepreneur. He had to leave the United States, because prostitution is illegal here. So, he went to Amsterdam, because prostitution is legal in the Red Light District over there. Of course, he’s cornering the market, because, yes, there’s a lot of pimps over there, and they have hos. But he’s cornering the market on man-hos. See, they been independent contractors called gigolos. So, he’s put ‘em together in a company called Man-Hos. So, he keeps it pimpin’.
KW: And what’s the plot of the sequel?
EG: Somebody’s killing the man-hos. So, he calls up Deucey, and says, “Why don’t you come on over and enjoy Amsterdam?” Rob reluctantly comes over, ‘cause he’s in a little trouble here in the States, and gets caught up in T.J.’s web of deceit. And they have to go undercover to find out who the real man-whore killer is.