Guy Talk

Cedric the Entertainer and Max Greenfield bring the funny –and a real friendship– to The Neighborhood.

- By John Griffiths. Photography by Eric Ray Davidson

THANKS TO A BLAZING hot end-of-summer day, it’s a little stuffy in The Neighborhood’s production office in Studio City, California. Yet when the sophomore sitcom’s two main stars, Cedric the Entertainer and Max Greenfield, arrive for a chat just ahead of a cast table read, the room suddenly exudes cool. Greenfield, snazzy in what Instagrammers might call “athleisure wear” (off-white casual-chic pants and shirt to match), shows the engaging charms—but not the puppy-dog neediness—of his character Dave Johnson, a small-town Midwesterner starting a new life with his family in a mostly black section of L.A. And the man born Cedric Antonio Kyles, stand-up comedy legend or not, carries himself with enough humility—and his own casual élan—to be dubbed Cedric the Walking Chill Pill. (His guarded Neighborhood alter ego, the Dave-resistant Calvin Butler, might take some cues!)

Even more heartening—right up there with the suddenly blowing air conditioner—is seeing the duo’s thoughtful and playful friendship in action. “We’ll crack a joke and it will run all day long,” says Cedric.

Their comedic chops are a given: Cedric, 55, is a stand-up legend and starred in three Barbershop movies; Max, 39, spent seven years as fast-talking roomie Schmidt on the friends-com New Girl. And with their odd-couple chemistry, the two have breathed life into some clever conflicts between their characters.