Mike Epps admits that some of his best on-screen comedic moments happened while he was under the influence of drugs.
The comic has previously shared candid remarks about his vices, but the conversation he recently had on the “All the Smoke Podcast” finally gives fans more on the backstory of how narcotics, like cocaine, were used as a crutch to help him cope while transitioning into stardom.
The actor got his big break when Ice Cube cast him as Day-Day, the cousin to the rapper’s character Craig in “Next Friday.” In the midst of discussing how life’s hardships can mold boys into men, the Indianapolis native told hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, “This is life. … If don’t nobody teach you, life is gon’ teach you. It’ll whup yo a– and make you humble, calm down, settle you down; it’ll do all that to you.”
Sounding as though he had a testimony riddled with tales of strife, Epps continued, “I been on drugs. I been through hell, you know what’ I’m saying? I did most of the movies on cocaine. ‘All About the Benjamins,’ man, I used to sit in Ice Cube trailer in the morning and be crying tears.”
The founding N.W.A. member would tell his co-star things like,’ “Mike, wipe your face, man! You a king, n—ga! Stop doing this s—t to yourself.’” “I’m sitting there wiping myself ‘cause I was really, really, really, I was really—I had survivors remorse,” said Epps.
Prior to finding comedy, the 53-year-old had tapped into the street life in his hometown by selling drugs, an act that would see him serve two years in jail after being convicted for possession of drugs in 1989. He would later move to New York, where he lived for 15 years, before venturing out to Los Angeles and his entertainment career took off.
Mike Epps reveals he was on cocaine for most of his movies and says he prays for Katt Williams after he exposed comedians on Shannon Sharpe's podcast, not knowing if the people he exposed are killers or not.
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Also, Mike Epps reveals the real reason why he ended his beef with… pic.twitter.com/RMtE9RZKSo
“I was so sad that I left all them n—gas here in this city, and I was famous,” Epps said. “And when I would come home, I wanted them to be happy for me and they was mad at me. So I said d—n I gotta destroy myself for you to like me. I was like d—n my favorite n—ga it seem like he like me more when I’m coming down off coke and I’m crying and I hate myself. He was like, ‘Oh man, I love you, n—ga. I’m praying for you.’ But when I wasn’t high, I was working out and I look good, he’s like, ’N—ga, you think you better than me.’ I said, ‘How is my success a reflection of your failure?’”
The actor added that his story is far from unique and that it can be witnessed happening with today’s youth. “They round here killing they self trying to fit in with somebody who’s f—ked up. That’s the truth. Now, I’m a comedian and we posed to be laughing, and the conversation done went there like that ‘cause comedians are dark people, man. We dark,” said the entertainer.
Ironically, his early experiences with fame mirror the conflicts on the Starz defunct comedy “Survivors Remorse,” where he played a character named Julius. He appeared in the first two seasons but was written off ahead of season 3. He claimed, “I asked for some more money and they killed me. … That’s usually what happens on TV shows,” during a panel at the 2016 Television Critics Association Winter Tour.
At the time, he was also starring on ABC’s “Uncle Buck” and was in talks to finally portray the late comedic great Richard Pryor.
In the podcast episode, he revealed that his goal of playing his comedy mentor would likely never come to fruition with him as the lead after allegedly turning down Pryor’s widow’s sexual advance. He currently co-stars with Kim Fields and Wanda Sykes on the successful Nefltix sitcom “The Upshaws.”
