There will be a 4-point line that resembles the ridges in Ruffles potato chips at Friday’s NBA All-Star Celebrity Game in Chicago — but comedian Lil Rel Howery is taking his playing duties very seriously.
“I know that most comedians get on there, and I talked to Kevin Hart about like, ‘Yeah, you got to be entertaining,'” Howery said on Friday’s episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” “I’m not doing that. I’m really playing. I’m playing hard. I’ve been like training, and I’m ready to hoop. This might be my last game of my life, but I’m playing as hard as I can.”
Howery — who stars in the Issa Rae movie “The Photograph,” out Thursday in Chicago — is on ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith’s team. Howery, 40, said he and fellow Chicago native Hannibal Buress have been training with someone tied to the NBA.
Buress is on the team coached by ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, a Chicago native and Northwestern University graduate. Rapper/activists Common and Chance the Rapper are the captains.
The game is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Wintrust Arena. “The Tonight Show” airs at 10:35 p.m. weeknights on WMAQ-Ch. 5.
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