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Wendell Pierce: Exploring comedy with 'The Odd Couple'
Rob Kim/Getty Images/AFPHaving gained fame through dramatic roles as a detective in David Simonâs critically acclaimed The Wire â and as trombone player in Simonâs Treme â American actor Wendell Pierce is rising to the challenge to show his humorous side in the latest adaptation of The Odd Couple
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Rob Kim/Getty Images/AFP
Having gained fame through dramatic roles as a detective in David Simon's critically acclaimed The Wire ' and as trombone player in Simon's Treme ' American actor Wendell Pierce is rising to the challenge to show his humorous side in the latest adaptation of The Odd Couple.
Speaking during a recent telephone interview, Pierce discussed his role in the sitcom as Teddy, an agent and a friend of sports talk-show host Oscar Madison, played by Matthew Perry.
'It is great to be on something that is fun that everybody can enjoy and that can honor the old show,' the 51-year-old said.
The Odd Couple is based on the famous Neil Simon play, which tells the story of Oscar and neat-freak Felix Unger, who share an apartment after their marriages fell apart.
The story of unlikely roommates was first adapted for the silver screen in 1968. A television version, featuring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall and running from 1970 to 1975, remains one of the most popular shows in American culture.
The new version, developed and executive-produced by Perry, combines the original story with fresh ideas, according to Pierce. 'We pay homage to the previous version, with the characters and the jokes ' but we want to make something different and new [for] the generation of people who don't know anything about it.'
However, in contrast to his portrayal of burly detective Bunk Moreland on The Wire, Pierce said he had to think fast and be quick on his feet for The Odd Couple. 'It's the same sort of acting muscle as in other mediums, just that you've got to use it faster,' he says.
While shooting in Los Angeles, Pierce said he had a ball with Perry and other members of the cast, including Thomas Lennon (Viva Variety), who portrays the obsessively tidy Felix.
'Matthew loves to gets his hands on the camera and record the whole conversation with me,' Pierce said. 'He likes to play around ' and that is you want to do when you're doing a comedy. You want to have fun.'
Switching gears, Pierce is now in New York to perform a stage production of Brothers from the Bottom.
'I don't have a preference,' he says. 'I also try to pride myself on having as diverse a career as possible: doing classical, doing contemporary, doing drama and comedy.'
The actor, who studied at the prestigious Juilliard School of Drama in New York, has starred in dozens of television series. On the big screen, Pierce has appeared in Spike Lee's Malcolm X, Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part Two, and, most recently, in the critically acclaimed Selma.
Pierce splits his time between New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans ' but he knows for sure that he will always prefer to spend more time in New Orleans, where he was born and raised.
'It means the world to me. It is my home. It's the best connection to my past. And most likely to be part of my future,' said Pierce, who is known for his notable contributions in rebuilding New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2015.
The Odd Couple screens on the RTL CBS Entertainment HD station available on K-Vision.
