Chris Tucker on keeping his show ‘edgy’ amid cancel culture: ‘I don’t need to go too far’
Chris Tucker is not letting the threat of cancel culture stop him from putting on a great show.
In an exclusive interview with Page Six Monday, the “Rush Hour” star — who is currently headlining The Legend Tour, his first major tour in North America since 2011 — said that he just wants the audience to laugh and have fun, despite his stand-up comedy show being “edgy.”
“That’s my whole goal. You know, I want everybody to come to my show to laugh, have fun, to learn something — learn about what I’m thinking about — and then what got me to my point in life or success,” he told us.
“It’s who I am not to really offend people and I try and I’m always conscious and stuff and hopefully I don’t. If I do, I tell them, ‘I’m sorry,’ you know, because it’s definitely a little — my show is edgy, a little bit, but not too edgy.”
Tucker, 52, added that he doesn’t “need to go too far” with his stand-up material to ensure that the audience has a good time.
“I can be funny without that and can be interesting and good without that,” he explained. “I am conscious of not trying to hurt anybody’s feelings that’s in the crowd because I want them to laugh and have fun.”
Tucker rose to fame in the ’90s while performing on the Russell Simmons-produced HBO show “Def Comedy Jam.”
The “Air” actor then snagged his first starring role as Smokey in the 1995 cult classic “Friday” alongside rapper Ice Cube.
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After going on to executive produce and co-star with Charlie Sheen in the hit movie “Money Talks” and appearing in several films such as “Dead Presidents,” “House Party 3” and “The Fifth Element,” Tucker catapulted into superstardom by snagging a role as Detective James Carter alongside Jackie Chan in the 1998 film “Rush Hour.”
The Chris Tucker Foundation founder and the martial artist, 69, went on to film a second and third sequel to their box office smash, which reportedly raked in more than $850 million worldwide in total.
While fans are anxiously waiting for the comedian to return to both the “Rush Hour” and the “Friday” franchises, he has been having fun getting back to his roots of stand-up comedy.
“My movie career happened really fast, so that took up a lot of my time,” he told Page Six. “But in my heart of hearts, I always was a stand-up comic and I never want to ever give it up because that’s what got me to the movies.”
The Legend Tour kicked off in September in North Charleston, S.C., and will run through January, ending in Detroit.
He’ll be at New York City’s Beacon Theatre on Friday, Nov. 17 and Saturday, Nov. 18.
