“It was extremely difficult”: Deon Cole talks about leading his first show with ‘Average Joe’ – UnlistedNews

Comedian and actor Deon Cole will take on the lead role in the new series. Average Joe, which debuted on BET+ on Monday. In the dark comedy-drama, Cole stars as Joe Washington, a husband and father whose normal working-class life is turned upside down after his father dies and he discovers he stole $10 million from a Russian mob boss (Pasha Lychnikoff). ). In some ways, Cole also experienced a life change when he accepted the role and found himself number one on the call sheet for the first time in his career.

“It was extremely difficult because I’ve never been a leading man,” Cole said during a special preview screening of the series held at Goya Studios during BET Weekend. “I’m used to just going in, doing my part, jumping in my car and taking off, and going stand-up. That was my routine with everything I’ve done. They wouldn’t let me in my car on this show. They said, ‘No, sit down.’”

Although Cole initially couldn’t imagine leaving his other job to focus solely on the TV show, commenting that he was normally “first in, first out”, when it came to other roles, he eventually realized that everything Others had that in the background. “Seeing the dedication that the cast had, for me to not have that same dedication would be strange and I couldn’t do that,” he said. “I learned to put everything aside. Every project I was doing I put it aside, buckled up, and followed his lead.”

Cole’s co-star Tammy Townsend, who plays Joe’s wife Angela Washington, had almost the opposite problem when filming each of the series’ 60-minute episodes.

“I took Angela home and I’ve never done that before with any character I’ve ever played,” the veteran actress admitted. “When I returned home, I had to relax. Angela is under an insurmountable amount of stress, anxiety, and insecurity, and I was feeling all of it when I got home. I really had to find the tools to get back to myself and it took me a long time to do it,” Townsend explained, adding that the emotional cost was “well worth it.”

Joe’s wife and daughter (Ashley Olivia Fisher) aren’t the only ones affected when he decides to find the money his father stole and keep it for himself after being attacked by mob members. His best friends, Leon Montgomery (Malcolm Barrett) and Benjamin “Touch” Tuchowuski (Michael Trucco), agree to help him in exchange for 20 percent of the money. For Trucco, the chance to play Touch, a cop who not only gets involved in a crime, but also battles his own personal demons, including a drug addiction, was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

“I heard a quote from an actor who said, ‘When you read a script and you see a character and you can’t imagine anyone else in that role except yourself, then you have to go after that role 100 percent,’” he said. saying. “When I read Touch, there is something that just speaks to me. There was something in this project. There was something about what Rob Cullen did. There was something about having Deon and Tammy and Cynthia Kaye Mcwilliams and Malcolm and Ashley and Pasha all involved. He absolutely knew that this was something he had to do.

“You don’t usually have control over those things. So, you brought it out and for some reason Kismet came along and this role came to me and spoke to me, and I felt like I could put myself in the shoes of this character,” added Trucco. “He’s a very complicated character and there’s a lot more to discover that I won’t reveal, but this is quite a journey. I’ve never had the opportunity to do something like this before and I’m so grateful and so proud to be sitting on stage with this amazing cast.”