Just Sayin’ Jay Pharoah

The stand-up comedian, actor, and SaturdayNightLive star on his new projects and two upcoming stops on the Maine coast.

BY COLIN W. SARGENT

You picked the perfect time to come up here, August 19 in Portland and August 20 in Bar Harbor. Ever been to Maine before?

Yeah, it’s got a really cool, laid-back, hipster vibe to it. I love it.

When was that?

2014.

I watched you in SpinningGold last night. “Leaving on the midnight train to…Houston”?

Yeah, Houston would never have worked. It was only right [to change it to Georgia].

In SpinningGold you play record-industry pioneer Cecil Holmes, whose frst big success was promoting the song “Mustang Sally,” after Aretha Franklin suggested changing it from “Mustang Mama.” Cecil is a kind of conscience in the flm. When Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart’s deals get too wild, they cut to you for a reality check.

[Suddenly in character as Cecil Holmes:] “I’ll rock with you, but come on, Neil!” Yes, absolutely. Cecil was Neil Bogart’s right-hand man, and he was de nitely the gatekeeper of what was going to y. e voice of reason. Cecil Holmes is actually still alive, and I hope to meet him one day. e Blackening drops Juneteenth. [Seven friends go away for the weekend only to nd themselves trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. Will their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies help them stay alive? Probably not. —imdb.com]

SpinningGold shifts gears midway and roars to a spectacular fnish. Also the music is spectacular. Whenever the show takes us close to the singers, like Donna Summer or Bill Withers, that’s when I loved it most.

Yeah, the players do a good job of recreating records. We started shooting that in 2019. We took a hit from the pandemic and nished shooting in New Jersey in 2021. And yes, the music. ere’s so many old classics, like “Wooly Bully!” You nd out where all those songs came from. George Clinton’s “Give Up the Funk.” at story is composed of so much.

What’s your next acting assignment?

It may be the best comedy horror movie since Get Out. A great cast: Sinqua Walls, Jermaine Fowler, Dewayne Perkins, Yvonne Orji.

We interviewed Gilbert Gottfried, who dared to risk everything for a laugh, when he was in Maine for a show [“Gottfried on Gottfried,” May 2019]. I understand he inspired your frst impression growing up. Yeah, for sure he did. Gilbert Gottfried played Iago in Aladdin. O stage he is so quiet, but when he came on, he became a character. I’ll have to reach back before puberty to get to Gilbert Gottfried! My voice has changed a bit since then. [He does a perfect impression.] Early on, some of my voices were Forrest Gump, Sally Field, Looney Tunes.

How would you go about creating an impression of a Mainer and a Virginian talking? Actually that’s the two of us. Let’s see here. I don’t know how the Maine accent is. I’ve only heard it once. All I’ve got to go by is you. I’ll do you. Say something.

What do you want me to say? Okay, I’ll just ask the next question: Please tell us two times your impressions have gotten you into trouble. “Please tell us two times your impressions have gotten you into trouble.”

No! That’s Gilbert Gottfried! You do like to get into trouble. I got in trouble once when I told a deacon in my church that I was going to take his Bible and shove it sideways up his candy yams. I said “yams” because I was being respectful, but my mother was told di erently. My mother wouldn’t let me see SmackDown for a year.

As a kid, were you ever beaten up for doing an impression? No, I’m sorry, brother—did that happen to you? at hasn’t happened to me, but I’ve impersonated a person to his face who was snappin’ on me, and it almost led to a ght.

What impression will you never do again?

I don’t even think that will apply to me...

Okay. I can’t do Cosby.

Both Chris Rock and Will Smith are in your repertoire. Did you have to put that one on ice for a while?

No, no! As a matter of fact, the Oscars put those impressions back in the game. When it happened, I said, “Lord, thank you, Jesus!”

Then the Oscars’ camera cut to Denzel Washington. Yes, so now all three came together. [Launches into a perfect Denzel:] “At your highest moment, be careful. at’s when the devil comes to you.”

A friend told me you’re the emperor of TikTok because you can improvise so quickly. Someone could challenge you to do Ellen DeGeneres in a fght with the late Princess Diana, and you wouldn’t bat an eye. Has TikTok given your career an uptick?

Yeah. So many kids are on there now. I have a million followers on TikTok. On Insta-