Page 48 - ABILITY Magazine -Cedric Yarbrough Issue

Martirosyan: When did you make the big move to Hollywood?
Yarbrough: I moved out here July 4, 2000. I had my U- Haul. I came in. It was night. The fireworks were going off. I’m like, “Hey, this is the city for me, right here.”
(laughter)
Martirosyan: That was all set up for your arrival! Yarbrough: “They’ve already welcomed me here!” Cooper: And you got nine eleven?
Yarbrough: Reno 911!
Cooper: What did I say?
Martirosyan: (laughs) You said nine eleven.
Cooper: Isn’t that the same?
Yarbrough: Well, you’ve got the same numbers in there! (laughter)
A lot of people do that. You’ve got the right numbers, yes, but a different connotation.
Yarbrough and his Reno 911! crew striking a natural pose
Cooper: That was your first major show, right?
Yarbrough: That was the first big series I was able to be a regular on. I came out here in July, and I met the Reno 911! guys in October of that year. The show was sketch comedy at the time. It was entitled Ugly Ameri- cans, and it was just a sketch show for Fox.
Cooper: I did not know that.
Yarbrough: And Fox thought it was a little too similar to Mad TV, their sketch comedy show at the time, so they scrapped that idea and came up with this COPS-like show. COPS was on their network at the time, so they thought it would be kind of cool to have it on at 8:00 on Saturday nights and Reno 911! at 8:30, as a funny show. And Fox did not like that idea at all. So it sat on the shelf for two years. We all went our separate ways, and one day I get a call from Tom Lennon, who played Lieutenant Dangle on the show. He said, “Yeah, I think Comedy Central wants to do a pilot.” So we did a pilot, and they really loved it.
Cooper: With the same cast?
Yarbrough: Yes. It was mostly the same cast. We hired one more person and got rid of one person.
Cooper: Same cast as Ugly Americans?
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