TV

Jamie Foxx Turns Real Life Into Sitcom Gold

Oscar winner Jamie Foxx returns to TV comedy with a new show loosely based on his real life

Oscar winner Jamie Foxx returns to TV comedy with a new show loosely based on his real life

Jamie Foxx has turned in such amazing dramatic performances in films like Django Unchained and Ray (the latter winning him the 2005 Best Actor Oscar) that it’s easy to forget he got his start in early-’90s sketch-comedy series In Living Color—or that he went from that show to starring in his own sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show, which ran for five seasons before ending in 2001.

His latest project finds Foxx returning to his roots: Dad, Stop Embarrassing Me!, a new Netflix sitcom based on his real-life relationship with daughter Corinne (who is one of the show’s exec producers).

Foxx stars as Brian Dixon, owner of a successful cosmetics brand and currently unmarried when circumstances cause him to become the full-time father to his teenage daughter Sasha (Kyla-Drew).

Determined to be the best dad he can be, Brian depends on the help of his sister (Porscha Coleman) and weed-smoking father Pops (David Alan Grier, who co-starred with Foxx on In Living Color and, in real life, is only 11 years older than his TV son). Meanwhile, Sasha’s going to need all the help she can get as she learns to adjust to living with her new, lovingly chaotic family.

Described as being “full of heart and humour,” the multi-cam sitcom also reunites Foxx with The Jamie Foxx Show showrunner Bentley Kyle Evans.

Fans of Foxx, particularly his earlier TV work, will find a lot to enjoy in Dad, Stop Embarrassing Me!, which allows its star to dip back into his sketch comedy skills to play an array of heavily disguised characters, ranging from a flamboyant preacher to a balding barbecue aficionado.

For Grier, reuniting with Foxx nearly 30 years later “really was surreal,” he told Entertainment Weekly, describing the show as having a “throwback vibe” filled with “old-school laughter.”

Dad, Stop Embarrassing Me! streams Wednesdays on Netflix