Even television icons get nervous sometimes.
Jenifer Lewis, who played Ruby for eight seasons on ABC's black-ish, now stars on Showtime's I Love That For You as Patricia, the powerful CEO of a fictional home shopping network. Contrary to her character's nature, however, Jenifer was scared to step into her new gig.
"I will admit, the first week I was so nervous because it was just so different than black-ish," she told E! News. "Everything from coming out of my trailer, a trailer that I'd come out of for eight years and gone to the left, this was to the right. When I got there, everybody was in a mask. I didn't know who anybody was. I didn't even know names. The people on black-ish, we were family after eight years."
It didn't help that she was being fawned over by her own—mostly much younger—cast mates.
"Of course all the kids were looking like ‘It's the great Jenifer Lewis.' I'm like ‘Oh no, this is a very insecure Jenifer Lewis right now,'" Jenifer joked. "'I'm not sure about my big speech or my lines. Stop looking at me like that, please!'"
To the surprise of nobody, she eventually found her footing.
Vanessa Bayer co-created and stars in I Love That For You, which also stars Molly Shannon, and Jenifer points to the bond between the three women as being a pillar of its success.
"We're all established adults," Jenifer explained. "Vanessa's in her 40s. Molly's in her 50s. I'm in my 60s. So you bring that multi-generational energy in there, speaking to all the generations. It's that perfect storm. It's a glue I've never seen. The environment on that set is like one I've never seen."
That's high praise coming from Jenifer, whose list of credits includes In Living Color, A Different World and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
I Love That For You is about the campy, intense world of home shopping networks, inspired by Bayer's real-life experiences as a home shopping fanatic.
As for Lewis and her relationship with shopping? We'll just let her tell you.
"Somebody shops for me, I've been on network TV for eight years. Let's get real," Jenifer said. "Somebody shops for me. You think I'm going to show up in a grocery store? ‘Ruby! Ruby!' I don't think so. Especially with COVID. ‘Back up, baby! Six feet! Don't come over here!' I don't care how many shows I've done. Get out of here."
The legend speaks her truth.
The first episode of I Love That For You is now available to stream on the Showtime app, with new episodes streaming on Fridays and airing on the Showtime network Sundays.