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American Morning
Showbiz Today Reports: Actors Crouther, Rock Discuss 'Pootie Tang'
Aired June 27, 2001 - 11:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JODI ROSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, everyone.
Fans and friends alike said their goodbyes yesterday to the man who will be forever known as Archie Bunker. More than 600 mourners stood up and applauded at the conclusion of the service for Carroll O'Connor, the man who made a cranky bigot one of television's best- loved characters. O'Connor was memorialized at Tuesday's service by friends like Martin Sheen and Larry Hagman. Some members of his "All in the Family" family were there as well, like Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers and the show's creator, Norman Lear.
Struthers, who played Bunker's daughter, Gloria, said O'Connor will be remembered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALLY STRUTHERS, ACTOR: I feel the big hole in my heart, and I know that people all over the world will be missing him too because he gave them so many years to laugh and to take a look at themselves, and people love it when you make them laugh, and he was brilliant at that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSS: That is true.
On a much lighter note, there's a new superhero hoping to make people laugh at the movies this weekend. His name is Pootie Tang -- I guess Superman and Batman were already taken. Created by funnyman Chris Rock and his buddy Lance Crouther for Rock's HBO sketch series, this hip-hop hero was such a hit that the duo have brought him to the big screen.
Bill Tush unravels the legend of Pootie Tang.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pootie Tang, one bad brother, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pootie Tang will whip your butt so bad that you could write it off on your taxes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BILL TUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The world is safe: Pootie Tang has arrived.
LANCE CROUTHER, ACTOR: Well, I don't know about that.
TUSH: Lance Crouther, you're Pootie Tang.
CROUTHER: Yes.
TUSH: Chris Rock is a corn husk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROUTHER: Daddy?
CHRIS ROCK, ACTOR: You're damn right I'm your daddy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROUTHER: You're my father. You're a DJ. Chris is the Peter Sellers of this movie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCK: So let's listen up to the new record by Pootie Tang, called "From Pootie Tang."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROUTHER: Yes, my vocal pipes, you know.
ROCK: He's a mentalist.
CROUTHER: Yes, I'm like you -- I'm even more minimal than Ani DiFranco.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pootie don't need no words, don't even need no music. Wow!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have got a hit, baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUSH: Is there anything that can take away Pootie's powers -- that's not easy to say?
CROUTHER: I like the way that you said it, though -- you got it.
TUSH: Pootie's powers.
ROCK: If you get rid of the belts.
TUSH: His belts hold his powers, so he thinks. CROUTHER: And his pants.
ROCK: So if he loses his power, he has probably also has lost his pants.
TUSH: Pootie Tang is irresistible to women.
CROUTHER: It's funny that I never remember that happening in the movie.
ROCK: Women like Pootie Tang.
CROUTHER: He's irresistible to women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pootie Tang, all right.
CROUTHER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROUTHER: It's all in the dog.
ROCK: It's all in the dog, quite a time.
CROUTHER: Divvy them up and -- and it's a lot like...
TUSH: What's divvy on my fanny.
ROCK: Divvy on my fanny.
CROUTHER: It's a very interesting quotation from Pootie.
ROCK: You have Superman, Batman -- these guys, they fly, they fight crime, but they only have one girl in the movie -- it's weird.
TUSH: Right.
ROCK: If you could fly and bend steel, you should have lots of women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pootie had it all: hit records, movies, magazine covers, fancy cars, famous friends, beautiful custom-made clothes, and ladies, ladies, ladies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSS: The stars of the new film "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" were out in full force last night at the film's premiere. The film's director, Steven Spielberg -- who was able to bring Stanley Kubrick's vision to life -- was there, along with the film's actors-turned- robots Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law.
We'll have much more from the premiere at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Until then, I'm Jodi Ross, in New York. Let's go back to Daryn and Leon, in Atlanta.
Guys, I did get to see "A.I."
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: You have?
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You did? What did you think?
ROSS: I don't want to review it; I leave that to the "HE SAID/SHE SAID" critics, but I will tell you...
HARRIS: Come on.
KAGAN: Come on. We won't tell your bosses.
HARRIS: Just between us.
ROSS: I will tell you that it's unlike anything you've seen before -- that's for sure.
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