After taking time off last year from the comedy stage, “Living Single” co-star John Henton is hitting the road this year. And he’s got a lot of things to get off his chest.
One is the “initials that won’t go away.”
“Since the O.J. thing went down, I mean, everything has just fallen into race relations. It’s like, battle lines have been drawn and it’s a whole different groove out there now, man. Everything takes on racial connotation, even though it might not have been like that.”
Henton also has some thoughts he’d like to share on other things in the news, as well as things that are going on in his life, “running around with these crazy women and fatal attractions.” He was supposed to be married by now, but things didn’t exactly turn out the way he planned.
“It was a thought, it was a plan, it was a beautiful dream,” he says. “Didn’t happen. It was like `Dallas’ and I’m waking up in the shower. You know, it was like a bad dream.”
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Henton assures everyone that when he makes a special appearance Friday at the Park West, he’ll have quite a few other things to discuss. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even be on the road.
“Any time I do come, I’m gonna make sure I’ve got something to talk about, and not so I’m coming out just to be making the money,” says Henton, who’s been working in comedy since 1984.
And take it from Henton, it would be very easy to make appearances just for the cash.
“My being on the show, your price goes up,” says Henton about “Living Single,” which is wrapping up its third year on Fox (Thursdays at 7 p.m. on WFLD-Ch. 32). Well, let’s be nosy: How much money are you getting to appear at venues like the Park West?
“Oh, a lot of cheese.”
No, we’re not talking about dairy products, John. We’re talking hard, cold, dead presidents.
“A lot of cheese. Cheese a-plenty. There’s plenty, you know. They’re throwing a lot of cheese at a brother. Stuff to where I used to have to work . . . no, I can’t even say I worked a week for this kind of money. It wasn’t happening before.
“But it’s cool. And the thing is, people come out and they recognize you from the show, and you go and give them a good show and then everybody’s happy.”
As long as you’re getting over like a fat rat, Henton.
Things were so good that the thirtysomething comic decided to knock off last year during his hiatus from “Living Single,” where he plays lovable, slow-witted handyman Overton Jones.
“I didn’t do too much of anything. I don’t think I did any gigs over the summer. I just took time off. I was reading for movies, and I didn’t get one of those. And I just laid down. I went home to see my peeps (people) and was just normal for a minute.”
This year, however, Henton decided he would do “selected dates. Just keeping everything going, but not drive myself crazy like I was with that 40 weeks a year stuff.”
Henton, who has appeared on “The Tonight Show” and his own Showtime comedy special, is able to be selective after the satisfying season he just completed on “Living Single,” the comedy about a group of single friends living in an apartment in New York City (we know, we know, but they don’t hang out in a coffee shop, and there are four women and two men, as opposed to three of each species).
“Living Single,” which also stars Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, Kim Fields Freeman, Erika Alexander and T.C. Carson, will be back in the fall with a renewed drive. “You’ll definitely see that it’s going to be a lot funnier this year, in combination with performances, getting a better writing staff,” Henton promises.
“Last year was kind of difficult because people started doing different projects, and we kind of lost focus on our show.”
Henton points to the season finale that the cast and crew just wrapped as a positive barometer of where the show will be headed in the fall.
“The last show of this season, I think, is one of the best shows we’ve ever done. I mean, everyone was tight, everybody was in a good mood, everybody was going for the jokes. It was like the old `Living Single.’ “
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John Henton is performing two shows Friday, along with special guests Don “D.C.” Curry and Damon Williams, at the Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave. For more information, call the Park West at 312-929-1322, or Ticketmaster, 312-559-1212.