TV Interview!

Interview with Cedric the Entertainer, Max Greenfield, Beth Behrs, Tichina Arnold, Sheaun McKinney, Marcel Spears, Hank Greenspan and surprise guest Jerry O’Connell of “The Neighborhood” on CBS by Suzanne 1/31/23

This was a very fun interview. There was a lot of laughter.  The cast is so great and obviously get along very well after 5 seasons and 100 episodes! This CBS press day was, in part, to celebrate the show’s 100th episode, which airs this week, April 10, 2023. As you’ll read below, you’ll see how funny the panel was, and how the surprise guest made it even funnier! However, he did interrupt my question, and I wish they would have another crossover episode between their show and their sister show, “Bob Hearts Abishola!”

CBS

2023 WINTER PRESS DAY

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Cedric the Entertainer

 Max Greenfield

 Beth Behrs

 Tichina Arnold

 Sheaun McKinney

Marcel Spears

 Hank Greenspan

  Virtual via Zoom January 31, 2023

SHAWNA MALCOM: Good morning, everyone. I’m Shawna Malcom with CBS Publicity. And along with my CBS Studios counterpart, Tagan Lee Green, I’d like to welcome you all to the panel for our hit comedy “The Neighborhood,” which, as you just saw, is celebrating its 100th episode this season. The milestone episode, directed by Cedric the Entertainer, just wrapped filming last week and includes guest appearances from the hosts of “The Talk.” We will be sending out a screener of the episode closer to when it airs in April.

Today, we are happy to have the full cast joining us here during a break in production, starting with Cedric, who is also an executive producer of the series, Max Greenfield, Beth Behrs, Tichina Arnold, Sheaun McKinney, Marcel Spears, and Hank Greenspan. In a moment, Cedric will kick things off with some opening remarks, but, first, just a quick reminder that if you’d like to ask a question during the panel, please use the “raise hand” icon, and when I call your name, please remember to unmute your microphone before asking your question. And with that, I’ll turn it over to Cedric.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Hey. Good morning, everybody. Thank you, Shawna. Good morning. Welcome, everybody, to the panel. It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these. So I appreciate it. I’m really excited to be here, talking about our show still, man. We are in our fifth season. The show has grown a lot. Of course, the cast is just really dynamic. That’s been really one of the key things, I believe, to the longevity and the success of the show that we’ve had. It’s such a dynamic cast and the way that we gel together, of course, our writing staff and just the whole family environment here. I’m really excited to meet this milestone this year of 100 episodes, something that’s very rare in the business of television these days. So we don’t take it for granted. We feel very blessed to be able to be doing a show on a big, major network at this time. And so I’m really proud of that milestone as well as getting the great news that we’ll be back for a sixth season. So, again, I’m very excited that we have the support of CBS, our fan base, people who watch us on Monday nights, love this show, and continue to support us. So thank you, guys, for being here, and go ahead and spread the word even more so. Thank you.

QUESTION: Hi. Thank you. It’s great to see you guys. Most of you have been on hit sitcoms before. What makes this one special compared to those? And will there be another “Bob Hearts Abishola” crossover?

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Is that for anybody in particular?

QUESTION: Any of the actors.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Well, I guess I’ll jump in. I mean, of course, having someone I was a part of a show that did a hundred episodes. That was rare. I’ve been a part of shows that did nine, you know, ten episodes, and so we just are very excited about you know, I think there’s a real opportunity of having a show where you come to work, you love coming to work.

(Jerry O’Connell joins the panel.)

JERRY O’CONNELL: What’s up, Ced? Ced, what’s up? It’s Jerry. I’m getting ready to do “The Talk.” How are you, man?

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Jerry O’Connell, you look good, man. I was just talking about you. I wasn’t, right?

JERRY O’CONNELL: Is anybody else on this meeting?

BETH BEHRS: Hi, Jerry.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Just me and you, Jerry.

MAX GREENFIELD: Jerry, you have your shirt off, and you are putting on spray deodorant. You are kind of

JERRY O’CONNELL: I’m getting ready.

MAX GREENFIELD: getting dressed.

JERRY O’CONNELL: We do a live show here. Hey, guys, congrats on a hundred episodes. I just wanted to ask, who was your favorite guest? your favorite guest costar? your favorite guest star?

TICHINA ARNOLD: You, Jerry.

MAX GREENFIELD: Jerry, your shirt is off, and you are putting on deodorant

TICHINA ARNOLD: You.

MAX GREENFIELD: and it’s inappropriate.

JERRY O’CONNELL: A hundred. Max, we’ve been friends for a long time.

MAX GREENFIELD: Jerry, is that hair spray or deodorant? I’m so confused because you were spraying it under your armpits, and you are spraying it in your hair, also totally inappropriate, what you are doing right now.

TICHINA ARNOLD: He’s shaving.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Is he shaving under his arms now?

TICHINA ARNOLD: Let him shave.

MAX GREENFIELD: I don’t think you know that you are on camera, Jerry.

JERRY O’CONNELL: By the way, such an honor to be a part of “The Neighborhood” and the hundred episodes. If anyone wants, I have these little autograph cards that I give out. I signed my name. I’m going to give them to anybody.

TICHINA ARNOLD: Wow. Wow.

JERRY O’CONNELL: I get to sign my name.

MARCEL SPEARS: Jerry, I’d like one.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: I’ve been folding those up and using them to balance out my table at restaurants.

(Laughter.)

JERRY O’CONNELL: Hey, guys, I did want to jump in, and I wanted to say congratulations. It was so much fun seeing how everybody works. And you realize why there’s been a hundred episodes, and there will probably be a hundred more. I’m going to go do a live show.

MAX GREENFIELD: You so should have done that just the way you did and not had to open up with your shirt off and spraying hairspray under your arms.

JERRY O’CONNELL: I just wanted to show everyone my process and the magic of TV. I love you guys.

SHEAUN MCKINNEY: Thank you, man.

TICHINA ARNOLD: We love you, Jerry. We love you, Jerry.

MAX GREENFIELD: We can get in a lot of trouble for showing your process to people, Jerry.

TICHINA ARNOLD: Jerry is a nut, man.

MAX GREENFIELD: Jerry guest starred in our hundredth episode, for those of you who are confused.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: It was literally one scene, guys. So I don’t know what the whole thing is where he needed all of this.

MARCEL SPEARS: I think it was a memorable scene. It was memorable.

TICHINA ARNOLD: Very memorable, yeah.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: We could not get him to take his shirt off, and, eventually, I guess, it finally happened, like, days later where he decided, like, “Yes. Do you know what? I’ll do it.” So he made an effort.

MARCEL SPEARS: I was honestly jealous because I didn’t get a chance to none of my scenes were with him, but I know, like, Max and Beth, you guys got a scene with him.

TICHINA ARNOLD: Yeah, nice.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Yeah. Beth got, on her own, to be approved by Jerry O’Connell.

BETH BEHRS: Monkeying, too, to Jerry O’Connell, I

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: From Max, from Jerry O’Connell, but it was a very tight group.

TICHINA ARNOLD: Inside joke. Inside joke.

BETH BEHRS: As you can see, this cast has many inside jokes. That’s why we are all dying right now.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Yeah.

BETH BEHRS: Well, to piggyback off of the question that you asked 20 minutes ago

TICHINA ARNOLD: Yes, please, do that.

BETH BEHRS: this that you saw right here is different from any job I’ve been a part of, and I think you can tell, like, there is a certain camaraderie here and a certain amount of fun. Like, there’s never a day where I wake up and I’m, like, bummed to go to work. It’s, like, no matter what’s happening in my personal life, I come here, and I laugh all day long with these people. And our crew is the same way. I’ve never been around a tighter crew of 300 people, and, you know, the way everyone stands up for each other. And when someone gets cancer or someone needs fertility treatments, this is a cast and crew that literally comes together and pools all of our money and fights for our own, and I’ve never been a part of something like that. So that’s why we want to do 200 more. We just want to hang out all day.

TICHINA ARNOLD: And, hence, why we were able to laugh. We are survivors. We are survivors. We are here five seasons later and still, you know, coming into people’s homes and making you feel better.

QUESTION: Hi. My question is for Cedric. You have the unique opportunity to say your own words on stage as a stand up comedian and saying the words in a sitcom situation. How are they different? And how are they the same?

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: You know, I guess, one, by being the executive producer of this show, I actually have a lot of voice and opportunity to make sure that the show is in tone, that we do try to be very real to the characters and what the characters are saying and what we want to convey. Each actor has an opportunity to as we are developing the show, we get the words from the writer. We get the scripts. But almost every actor on this show, if they have something that they want to say with a scene, if they have something that they feel like they want to get off, I’m a big supporter of that.

So I think that that is where it kind of parallels the stand up is the opportunity for inside the show, inside the character, for us to actually take on subject matters, say things in a different way, find the words in which either you, as a person, as an actor, would like to say something or uncomfortable with saying something and then have the ability to be able to change that and make it work. The thing about stand up I always say this about being the last stand up performing: You just don’t get any better than that as an opportunity of just, kind of, walking out and truly voicing your own opinion and letting that go into the world.

Now, of course, in the day of the cancel culture, even that is something that you have to approach with great care and trepidation. You can’t be careless and reckless knowing that for me, it is that I do have all of these other people that are counting on me to be able to come to work and do a job. And if I go out there and get us canceled by saying some joke that was reckless and careless and ruthless and mean spirited, then I can damage it for other people. So these are things that you have to be a lot more aware of nowadays than you used to be as a comedian, but I do embrace the freedom of being able to go on stage and just, kind of, saying what I’m thinking.

QUESTION: Well, thank you, guys, and I wish you another 200.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Thank you, brother.

QUESTION: Hello, everyone. Thanks for doing this. My question is for Beth. A hundred episodes, Gemma wears a lot of hats: neighbor, family woman, school administrator.

What is your view, over 100 episodes, of the arc that Gemma has gone through?

BETH BEHRS: Hi, Jay.

QUESTION: Hi.

BETH BEHRS: Good to hear your voice.

QUESTION: Thank you.

BETH BEHRS: It’s been a long time.

QUESTION: Yes.

BETH BEHRS: Yeah, she has worn a lot of hats, and I really think, especially her, sort of, relationship to motherhood I think Tichina’s character, Tina, and Gemma have really gone on a journey, both, in their friendship, but I was thinking about it recently, about also what she’s learned from Tina as a mother. And I think that that’s something super special that I’ve seen play out on this show and also in my personal life with Tichina as my friend now becoming a mother. So I think she’s grown in a lot of ways, as I have.

That’s one of the cool things about being on even on “Two Broke Girls,” it was my whole twenties, and this has been almost my whole thirties. And it’s like you are growing up with your character. So it’s just kind of meta and cool to play out. But I’m excited to see what we can do in the future because, like Cedric said, I think there’s just so many ways to go with this because these families are growing in real time, in real world society, like all of us are. And so, yeah, I’ve really enjoyed growing up on this show and growing together with this group of people.

QUESTION: Thanks a lot.

QUESTION: Yeah. This is for Max and Cedric. They say, nowadays, a lot of people just don’t see their neighbors very much. They just don’t meet them. So I was wondering, for you guys, first of all, when you were growing up, did you have a neighborhood like this where you knew your neighbors and talked to them? And, nowadays, do you have that kind of a situation, or do you wish it was like on the show? Max first.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Go ahead, Max.

MAX GREENFIELD: Yeah, I don’t know. When I was growing up, I grew up in a neighborhood where we definitely knew our neighbors. You were able to walk around the town, and it felt like I had a lot more freedom back then. It was a smaller town in upstate New York. And now I know none of my neighbors, and I care not to.

(Laughter.)

QUESTION: How about you, Cedric?

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Yeah, the same.

MAX GREENFIELD: People are weird these days. I’m not I’m not I don’t know.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Yeah, the same thing. I grew up in St. Louis, definitely the kind of neighborhood where you knew everybody up and down the block, the different families. You knew their parents, you know. You knew the houses not to go to. All of these things were a part of being a great neighborhood. Now, of course, it’s very different. One, I’m extremely rich. I have to live behind 13 gates, I believe, right now, if I’m counting. There’s, like, several security guards to even get to my own bedroom, I believe.

No. But it is so different. It is one of these things, like you know, the pandemic was really good for that, though, for that particular reason in the sense that everybody had to get outside. We were walking. And that was the first time that, you know, in recent years, that I must say I had an opportunity to kind of find out people who lived near me and see their faces and knew who they were. We didn’t live in a car.

MAX GREENFIELD: You didn’t meet any of those people.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: I did, man. I know them.

MAX GREENFIELD: No, you didn’t.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: I know people now. I forgot their names.

MAX GREENFIELD: You didn’t meet any of those people.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: I met them. At the time, I knew them well.

MAX GREENFIELD: Name one.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: But, since then, we are back in our cars. We don’t see each other.

MAX GREENFIELD: Name one neighbor.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: It’s, uh oh, here Victor. Victor.

MAX GREENFIELD: That’s our director, Cedric.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Oh, yeah. John and Karen. John and Karen, they live around there.

MAX GREENFIELD: Those aren’t real people, Cedric. Those aren’t real people.

QUESTION: Hi, guys. Thanks for talking to us today. So a couple of minutes ago, you were talking about growing. So I’m just curious, after having doing this so many years, are there still things that you learn about acting, about comedy, that kind of thing, from each other, just kind of as you go?

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Sheaun, Marcel, are you guys going to jump in?

SHEAUN MCKINNEY: Yeah. For me, absolutely. I’m surrounded by some of the funniest people, I think, on TV and in this profession from Cedric, of course, and Tichina and Beth and Max. And Marcel is freaking hilarious. Hank is funny. So I’m learning still how to craft jokes, how to make something work that’s not working in physical comedy because Tichina and Beth are amazing at physical comedy, and that doesn’t come easy. And they are naturally great at it, and so is Max and Marcel. And Hank’s capacity to understand things at his age is amazing. So I’m learning every single day to be a student of each one of these people.

MARCEL SPEARS: Yeah. I think, personally, I’m learning how to teach because I am a complete human being. I’m perfect, and I don’t

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Yes.

MARCEL SPEARS: have to learn anything from any of these people.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: No.

MARCEL SPEARS: I do have a master’s degree

SHEAUN MCKINNEY: A great actor.

MARCEL SPEARS: from Columbia University.

BETH BEHRS: He’s the only one with a master’s, so

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: A master’s from Columbia.

MARCEL SPEARS: Yeah, Columbia. No. Every day is, like, the best class ever. It’s the best acting class. It’s the best class in how to be a producer. It’s the best class in directing. It’s an honor and a privilege every day to come to work because of how much I am learning from these people, and then I just get to turn up and have fun, which is also so really good for me.

QUESTION: The rest of you have to say you have a master’s degree from the Columbia Broadcasting System.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Nice.

QUESTION: But when was the turning point for this show? Because, in the beginning, it was just this antagonistic kind of relationship between neighbors, but it shifted. When was that, and when did you see that shift?

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: You know, it was actually very intentional, though. It was one of those things that in order to really get to the show that we were intending to do is to show the kind of contentious nature of what happens when people just assume somebody is different from you because of skin color, religion, background, whatever these things that this natural assumption that we kind of live in a culture where, if somebody is different from me, I don’t like them.

That’s what it is; right? It takes you back to the, kind of, early Norman Lear shows with, you know, “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons.” And so that was, kind of, very intentional in the way we — especially me, the way I wanted to approach the show. And so, of course, Max the actors and the people that you meet just come in, and they are just, you know we were friends. We were friendly. We enjoyed each other. We laughed a lot. We got each other’s sense of humor, and so it’s harder to act that when you have this kind of natural connection.

So, eventually, it just made sense to kind of lean towards the friendship if we wanted to tell a funnier show. Plus, we didn’t want to be like this was a situational comedy. We are not here to argue each week or everybody stand on their soapboxes. So it started to be toward the end of the first season where we wanted to lay in this idea that there was hope, that there was this opportunity for these guys to find common ground. And so, when we kind of started this second season, we had a great opportunity to do something unique there, and so that was the spirit of the attitude of the show, and I think that’s the thing that people can really chew on about it. And now it’s just really fun, digestible, fun people, watching them be on the show together. We don’t really care about the racial dynamics or anything anymore. We are just, like, “They are friends.” I love it.

QUESTION: Thank you.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: But you earn that.

QUESTION: Hi. One of the things that we talked about one of the things that is promoted here is the idea that you can take really serious subjects and explore them more if you make people laugh about them. Have you found that to be true? Let’s ask Max and Tichina and Marcel.

MAX GREENFIELD: Yeah. I think it goes back a little bit to what Cedric said. When we discovered these characters and we discovered their relationships with each other, I think that then allows you to tackle more difficult subjects with a sense of humor because we and the audience are familiar with who these people are and where they are coming from.

TICHINA ARNOLD: Well, I love uncomfortable laughter, and the reason why I love uncomfortable laughter, there’s a reason why a person is uncomfortable. That’s because they are learning as they are laughing. And I am a true believer in, if it’s funny, I’m doing it. And I think, if a lot of people in the industry took more of that type of approach, we would be able to they would be able to be like this show and what this show has done. It has opened a lot of doors. It’s bridged a lot of gaps racially.

Just between each other on set, you know, like Beth said earlier, we teach each other about each other and about each other’s culture. So it’s a very fine line, and it’s awesome to have someone like Cedric The Entertainer, who is at the helm of that, because he keeps the integrity, he pulls us back, mainly me, but you have to have that because it comes from an honest place. So this show comes from an honest place. So we can get away with certain things. And I say “get away” loosely because, unfortunately, you have a lot of content out there, and it’s saying a lot a bunch of nothing, but this show says a lot. And so that’s pure testament to having somebody like Cedric that actually is looking it over, mulling it over, thinking it over, and culminating it to a place where it’s presentable.

MARCEL SPEARS: Yeah. I think comedy disarms you. Comedy lets down the defenses. And it’s the artist’s duty to reflect life, and I think Cedric has been really intentional. And our showrunners and our creative team has been really intentional about making a show about who we are right now as a country, as a community, like, who are we and really looking at that through the lens of comedy and creating a safe place for the people who watch this show to really reflect on maybe some serious things but also, like, laugh and get a chance to enjoy each other, laugh with each other, grow together, learn about each other from the safety of their homes, obviously from the safety of their living rooms. But I think it does the comedy of it does a lot to bridge that gap and make it more approachable and understandable and digestible.

TICHINA ARNOLD: And, Hank, how do you feel about our comedy night? Because you are, like, the only kid. And sometimes we go a little too far, but he gets it. And so I always wondered watching it because I always used to be the kid. So I always ask Hank questions as we go on. But how does it feel being a part of this type of comedy?

HANK GREENSPAN: I don’t know. It feels weird because I’ve grown up on the show. We started when I was seven, I think. That was when we shot the original pilot. And now I’m 12. So it’s really bizarre because a lot of the jokes I really just simply don’t get, and everybody will be dying laughing. And I’m “What’s the punch line? Did you say it already?”

TICHINA ARNOLD: Thank God for that. Thank God for that.

HANK GREENSPAN: Yeah. No. It’s really bizarre, but watching everybody perform, it’s a learning experience, not only for me, but for everybody involved, so yeah.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: It’s interesting. It’s funny because immaturity I said this on another interview recently is that Hank, in his latest especially in this season and watching him grow up, his timing, his ability to deliver a joke has been impeccable. Of course, when you have a young character on the show and the only kind of kid that’s in this show as a child, you are trying to figure out how to tell your tone and your adult story, and you try to give him some lines to not just let him be a straight man. And so now that he’s getting more and more maturity, you find the ability to give him lines that a kid that’s 12, that’s preadolescent, that’s, you know, in the world can say and question. I’ve just been enjoying it more and more this season. He just knocks them out of the park with these little, cool, like, flash through, walk through lines that are just awesome. Oftentimes, they are one of the funniest things in the show, and he’s just been able to, as an actor, I think, kind of grow into that and see it in that way. So it’s been fun to watch his growth.

MAX GREENFIELD: Hank, do you think that’s natural, or do you think that you learned it from somebody?

HANK GREENSPAN: Oh, it’s definitely natural. No.

MAX GREENFIELD: Do you think maybe you just picked it up somewhere? It just rubbed off on you, or are you just saying it’s all you?

HANK GREENSPAN: Yeah. Thank you, Marcel, for teaching me how to deliver jokes correctly.

TICHINA ARNOLD: There you go, Hank. That’s nice.

HANK GREENSPAN: I did it. I said a funny.

(Laughter.)

MARCEL SPEARS: I’m telling you, man, this is good.

MAX GREENFIELD: Just think about who set you up for that. No credit.

TICHINA ARNOLD: That was so good.

SHAWNA MALCOM: We have time for one last question.

QUESTION: Cedric, do you remember when you first realized you had this comedic skill? And when you realized it, what did you do about it?

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: You know

MAX GREENFIELD: I can answer that. It was somewhere in Season 4.

(Laughter.)

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Wow.

BETH BEHRS: I’m dying.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: That late in life?

MAX GREENFIELD: I’m going to mute myself.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: You know, I think it was definitely you know, for me, it was in the junior high school, you know, eighth, ninth grade kind of era of your life when you are kind of transitioning from being your mother’s kid to this guy that’s going to have your own identity and your friend group. You are getting a little more independence. And I think that’s when my sense of humor started to, kind of, like, jump out and when I was aware of it, especially when I started getting in trouble at school for being funny, like, doing things that I thought was just, like, me being myself and find out I would have the kids all laughing.

And then the teacher would blame me for being disruptive. And I was, like, “Oh, this is something.” But because my mother was a school teacher, it was something I never really chose to look at as a kind of life goal until much later in life. I didn’t even approach stand up or anything until after I was out of college. So I never even knew I could do this as a kind of profession or anything until it was much later in my life. But I always knew that I had this thing where I could make people laugh, and I enjoyed it. So that was much younger.

SHAWNA MALCOM: Okay. Before we wrap, I’ll throw it to Max for some closing remarks.

MAX GREENFIELD: I just wanted to say thank you, everyone, for coming. But, first, before I say that, I just want to apologize for Jerry O’Connell’s behavior. He guest starred on the hundredth episode and has sort of been showing up ever since, trying to back into the show.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Yes.

MAX GREENFIELD: We thought it was possible he would join this Zoom, a slim possibility. But, nonetheless, here he was today. So if anyone was offended, I apologize. I know Beth was offended. Sheaun, I could tell, was really upset. Marcel, I’ll have to Hank doesn’t understand it, what happened, but

HANK GREENSPAN: Unfortunately, I do. I saw everything.

MAX GREENFIELD: Again, that’s the timing that I taught Hank if he found it very funny. It’s quick. You know, the secret of comedy is the timing. Isn’t that right, Hank?

HANK GREENSPAN: Yes, Marcel.

MAX GREENFIELD: Got it. So here

(Laughter.)

We just want to thank you guys for coming and continuing to support this show. As you can see, we have no fun here. None of us like each other. It’s a very tense environment.

TICHINA ARNOLD: Borderline embarrassed.

MAX GREENFIELD: And the idea that you have continued to support us through now six seasons or what will be six seasons, which very, very few shows are able to do nowadays and, trust me, there’s not a person on this panel or on this set that doesn’t understand that, know that, and is unbelievably grateful and appreciative of that reality. We thank you all, and you are such a part of what we do here. And thank you for joining us today. It’s so nice that we get to do this. We haven’t been able to do it since, Shawna had told us, 2018.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Yes.

MAX GREENFIELD: This was a real treat. Thank you, guys, so much.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: We appreciate you guys starting this big campaign to get us an Emmy nomination. We thank all of you on there for your sincere over, overwriting about this show, saying “Hey, guys, don’t skip over sitcoms because they are multi-cams and they don’t deserve Emmys.” And this is you use our show as an example of why a show should be Emmy nominated as a situational comedy. And, just, each and every one of you, I’m looking at you on here, at your blank screens, and I’m saying, hey, congratulations, guys. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

BETH BEHRS: If Jerry O’Connell gets an Emmy before any of us, we’re going to have a real problem, especially for guest starring. I’m just saying.

TICHINA ARNOLD: You know he’s banking on it. You know he’s banking on it.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: Thank you.

SHAWNA MALCOM: On that note, thank you, everybody, on Zoom for joining us for “The Neighborhood” panel. Please stay tuned for a message from Emmy winning host Jeff Probst and a sneak peek at “Survivor’s” two hour premiere airing Wednesday, March 1st, at 8 p.m. on CBS and available to stream on Paramount+.

TICHINA ARNOLD: God bless. God bless.

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THE NEIGHBORHOOD stars Cedric the Entertainer in a comedy about what happens when the friendliest guy in the Midwest moves his family to a neighborhood in Los Angeles where not everyone looks like him or appreciates his extreme neighborliness. Dave Johnson is a good-natured, professional conflict negotiator. When his wife, Gemma, gets a job as a school principal in L.A., they move from Michigan with their young son, Grover, unfazed that their new dream home is located in a community quite different from their small town. Their opinionated next-door neighbor, Calvin Butler, is wary of the newcomers, certain that the Johnsons will disrupt the culture on the block. However, Calvin’s gracious wife, Tina, rolls out the welcome wagon; their chipper younger son, Marty, thinks the Johnsons could be good for the community; and their older son, Malcolm, finds Dave may finally be someone who understands him. Dave realizes that fitting into their new community is more complex than he expected, but if he can find a way to connect with Calvin, they have an excellent chance of making their new neighborhood their home.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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