When Jimmie “JJ” Walker sat down for an interview at the Sapulpa home where he was filming the new Forgotten Fortune movie, we didn’t get a lot of time together; about six-and-a-half minutes, actually.
But before we parted ways, I was laughing.
The man who gave the catchphrase “dyn-o-mite!” to the Baby Boomer generation is still making people laugh on a regular basis, particularly if you happen to catch him at stand-up comedy set, which he still does, even at 78-years-old. “That’s why I couldn’t make it here on time, because I was working,” he said.
Walker says that comedy, like anything, gets easier the longer you do it.
“Why would it get harder? The only problem we have now is political correctness,” a problem he says he’s addressing in his second book, which he’s currently working on. “You guys are probably the most conservative state, among the top five,” he said. “So that makes it very difficult.”
Walker also mentioned comedian David Spade, who is set to do a show at the Hard Rock Casino in Catoosa in November, and implied that his political leanings might not sit well with the conservative attendees. “We’ll see what happens,” Walker said. “He’s got enough TV shows, so he’ll get some tushies in the seats. We’ll see how it works.”
Jimmie Walker was raised in a violent and abusive home in the Bronx. He began doing standup comedy in small clubs and eventually found himself opening for Black Panther rallies. He reached icon status while playing JJ Evans on “Good Times,” and became what many say is the very first successful young black sitcom star.
Politically, he said in his 2012 memoir “Dyn-o-mite! Good Times, Bad Times, Our Times” that he’s a “logicist” who believes in “logic and common sense.”
Walker’s character in Forgotten Fortune is one he’s only recently become introduced to. “I came on very late to this,” he said. “I don’t know that much about it. I’m late to the dance. I know that Lou Ferrigno is a friend of mine, and he’s on it—and that’s what I know,” he said, laughing.
That friendship with Ferrigno must’ve made it easier to step into the character, because as the cameras began rolling, Walker began reciting his lines like he’d come up with them himself as he, lead actor Brian Shoop, and fellow supporting actor Lou Ferrigno began shooting a scene of three friends playing poker like it was just another saturday night.
Walker said his friendship with Ferrigno goes way back to the time when both of them were living in Los Angeles. “We worked out at Gold’s (Gym) in La-La Land. I’m not on that level, but he (Ferrigno) is a world-class person, bodybuilder, etcetera. I’m not in that category. But just to be around those guys—Arnold (Schwarzenegger), and to see them do their thing…”
He said despite the hype around town about the celebrities filming in Sapulpa, he doesn’t consider himself worth the buzz that Ferrigno would bring. “I’m not on that level,” he said. “I’m not on the Chappelle, Chris Rock level. I’m way—fourth level down, fifth level, maybe sixth level. Once they run out of people, they finally get down to me.”
We asked whether he thought he was at the top of anyone’s list.
“Probably the IRS,” he quipped.
Forgotten Fortune is currently shooting in Sapulpa and will be out later this year. Stay tuned for when tickets go on sale.
