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AP: What is your reality? Walker: The reality is you're a road comic. You're out here trying to get a laugh. You're trying to put tushies in the seats. You hope the majority of people that see you like you. If you come back again you hope they come back to see you. And that's the reality. You go from town to town, doing your little jokes. And that's the deal. AP: Do you ever get tired of "dyn-o-mite?" Walker: It's good that people like ANYTHING that you do. Because enough people think you SUCK, believe me. Enough people hate you. Enough people go, "He's horrible. I will KILL him if I ever see him." So if you get a majority of people that go, "I LIKE that." You go, "Wow! OK! Somebody likes SOMETHING." No, I don't do it. But it isn't like an insult, because people remember something that you did. That's a GOOD thing. AP: What do you see your future as? Walker: Road comic. That's it. Just a road guy `til I drop, which may be tomorrow. ... Unless somebody, a friend of mine, gets a TV show and says, "Hey. This is my friend. Put him on." That's the only way THAT'LL happen. ... Nobody's looking for Jimmie Walker. (Laughs). No GOOD people, anyway. ... (Steven) Spielberg's not saying, "Boy. If we could get Jimmie Walker, that's going to make this project happen." ... I have no problem being an uncle, a whacky uncle, a kooky neighbor
-- whatever they want to do. ... No starring role needed. Secondary's fine. AP: I understand you have some things to say about Leno (in the book).
Walker: Leno has not done well by the comedy community. Because he has not ... let people on the show to do what was done for him. ... I think that in his 30 years, he hasn't broken one comic. And that's a sad record. He needs to do better than that. And I'm not happy with that situation. I think that Leno has let us all down
-- in that area. AP: Has Leno responded? Walker: He's not worried about a low-life road comic who's out on the road, struggling to make whatever he makes ... Leno doesn't care about me or anybody
-- unless you've got a hit movie. You know, if it's Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks, THEN he's concerned. But Jimmie Walker, playing Giggles, Riddles, whatever it is, Goodnights? Psh. Please. AP: What is success for you now? Walker: Well, success. I'm not sure that's available to Jimmie Walker. I think just making a living is what we're fighting for now. That's all we do. That's all we've ever done. That's the end of it. And it is not anything major, or anything like that. Go out and get your laughs, try to do the best you can. Hopefully, the audience responds. And that's it. There's no major thing that, BANG, that Jimmie Walker's going to be this Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, you know, Daniel Tosh guy. NOT gonna happen. Just a road guy. ___ Online: http://www.dynomitejj.com/
[Associated
Press;
Allen G. Breed is a national writer, based in Raleigh, N.C. He can be reached at features@ap.org.
Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AllenGBreed.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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