Reddit AMA Recap: Larry Wilmore talks about his time working on ‘The PJ’s’

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Yesterday, Larry Wilmore stopped by Reddit to do an AMA session in promotion of his new series Black-ish. However, while there, he answered a bunch of questions about all of the other stellar TV shows he has worked on like The PJ’s, Bernie Mac, and the incoming The Minority Report with Larry Wilmore. To kick things off, Larry talks about how his love of television:

My love for television began when I was a child. I had the entire TV Guide memorized. I could tell you when any show was on, any time. I was truly a television kid – having no idea I would be working in television, of course. My love for producing happened when I started producing, so probably when I started doing the PJs – when you start having those responsibilities for the first time. So my love for television runs deep.

Larry’s only in his early 50s, but he’s done SO much in his career and better yet he has so much in the pipeline:

Well, I started as a stand-up comedian and as an actor. And I figured out that the best way to have a long career was for me to learn how to write and produce. I figured it would take forever for Hollywood to find me, so I had to find them. So i got my first big break on a show called IN LIVING COLOR, where i was a staff writer on the show, and I was nominated for an Emmy. And then I kept going, kept doing more shows, I created a show called the PJS, it was an animated show with Eddie Murphy, and then my second big break was creating THE BERNIE MAC SHOW for Fox, and this time I won an Emmy. And then I was a producer on the Office for the first 3 seasons, and I started performing again, but I still enjoy producing television as well. A very quick summation of my career.

But, what’s the difference between working in live-action and animated television? I’ve heard a lot of different answers from a lot of different people whom I’ve interviewed over the years, but few have the illustrious career of producing television like Larry. Seriously, Larry Wilmore is like the DeMarcus Ware of television. Not a lot of people may know who he is behind-the-scenes, but rest assured, he’s racking up numbers:

Hahaha. I think you just said what the difference is – well, on an animated show, you’re just dealing with people’s voices and with the characters. On a live show, you’re dealing with live actors – it’s a whole different writing style, producing style, almost everything about it is different. The animated show is about TWICE the amount of work, so you can imagine how exhausting that is. An animated show you are never, ever finished with it. There’s a lead time of about 9 months to complete an episode. Just very very time consuming.

 Sounds like Larry has produced his last animated series. In any case, he’s still got plenty more genius on the way, and you can read more about it here. 

The PJ’s used culture more for satire.

 

 

About John Schwarz

John is the Chief Editor and Founder of Bubbleblabber.com. While at first a part-time project, Bubbleblabber quickly grew into a full-fledged operation and officially became a company in 2014. When John isn't running a business full-time, he likes to go to concerts with your mother.