In an America obsessed with a new “reality,” Tyler Perry Studios and the OWN Network bring family television back into our homes, with the hit comedy series “Love Thy Neighbor,” set at The Love Train Diner, a family-run eatery where every day, the menu serves up good food, great laughs and valuable lessons in life and love.
Recently, rolling out had the opportunity to chat with Palmer Williams Jr., who plays Floyd Stanley Jackson, an over-the-top, in-your- face apartment super and diner employee. During our interview Williams touched on what viewers can expect in the weeks to come, how he landed his big gig with Tyler Perry and more.
Check out what Williams had to say below. –ruthie hawkins/@ruubabie
For those unfamiliar with “Love Thy Neighbor,” please tell us a bit about the show…
“Love Thy Neighbor” is a show that is based around the normal family. The matriarch being Hattie Mae Love, who is a cantankerous older woman, who is best described as a Madea Jr. Now, she [Hattie Mae Love] has a daughter, Linda Love Harris, who married but is now divorced and looking for love, but in all the wrong places.
Now, imagine all of this taking place at a family diner, where a feisty Hattie Mae and Linda live. Linda herself has an adult son, Danny, who while lives in a separate home of his own, creates plenty of drama along with his two roommates, Sam and Drew.
Then enters me, Uncle Floyd, who tends to be in everybody’s business.
What message can viewers expect to take away from the series?
We’re the uncertain definition of a dysfunctional family. Although, we didn’t really know that we were dysfunctional until we were told so. There’s definitely going to be someone out there who can relate to each and every character in the show.
But as long as everyone is getting along, is happy and progressing in life, it’s really not all that dysfunctional. Because you are actually functional.
And what you’ll have to understand too, is that with a family who is surrounded in love, even though some of it is tough love coming from Hattie and occasionally myself [Floyd] that it’s still love as long as there is a learning experience and you get something out of it. That is only going to help you progress.
So one message I would definitely say viewers will take away, is that the show is relatable to people’s everyday lives. We’re maybe a little bit over the top with some of the relationships. But in the same sentence, we’re coming from a comical sense. It’s not just an African American experience. It’s a human experience.
These are the things I would hope viewers would take away from our performances. And to know that some of the bits and pieces we show on the show, are a little bit of ourselves.
Art imitates life. So we pull a little bit from our own personal lives, implement it into art form and that’s what makes it realistic. So, this is really a reality show in a sense, because is it written by someone who has taken their reality and put it into art form.
How did you come to work with Tyler Perry Studios?
My first experience as far as working with Tyler Perry was a hit and miss. I initially befriended Tyler about 17, 18 years ago, when he approached me about working on one of his projects. And in doing so, we ended up collaborating on I Know I’ve Been Changed, which really became his first big hit.
Following that, we were supposed to work together on a big Christmas project but due to scheduling, it all fell through, so, I began to do my own thing as a playwright. But it all ended up coming full circle.
At the time, it was a very difficult time in my life, as I was facing a bankruptcy, even after all the success of playwrighting. I had to go to federal court, deal with the depression that came along with making bad financial decisions with real estate and such. My wife and I were trying to have another child but were unable to conceive and so I started off doing volunteer ministry, which I actually got fired from as well.
You know, it takes a special person to get fired from a volunteer ministry. First of all, I’m not getting paid, but I get fired from volunteer ministry. How do you get fired from volunteer ministry? But after all was said and done, the same people who had manipulated the members of the church who had fired me, ended up getting let go and I was called back two weeks later.
And after all of that, the church I had been working with, turned around and asked me to do a dance skit, which I initially turned down because I wasn’t the kind of dancer they were looking for. But when push came to shove, I decided to get involved with the project and it just so happened that on opening night, Mr. Tyler Perry was in attendance.
The very next day, Perry had someone reach out to my church, get my personal contact information and call me to inform me that I had an audition for an upcoming show of his. A day later, I showed up at 10:15 a.m., sat in the car and ran my lines, went into the audition, which went from a one hour audition, to a two hour interview. Later that night, they told me that they wanted me to be on the “House of Payne.” And three days later I was shooting.
So I went from being contracted to do only six shows, to shooting over 40 shows. And when that was all said and done, I went on to do The Marriage Counselor, Madea’s Big Happy Family, Laugh to Keep From Crying and so on.
So you can say it was a very big blessing and a very good run for about six to seven years.
What was it like transitioning from “House of Payne” to “Love They Neighbor”?
You know, Tyler had been telling me for quite some time, that he was going to be give me my own show, but it all happened so fast. It’s been a great experience thus far. It couldn’t have come at a better time with me facing the bankruptcy and all that, so God has really continued to bless me.
Just because of that one act of obedience with volunteering and taking part with my church, which I had to train for, for three weeks, because I hadn’t done that before, just really paid off. Being a good steward in man’s work as well as being obedient to the will of God, is why I am where I am today.
What do you like most about your character, Floyd?
The one thing that I like about playing Floyd the most is that he’s in so many different phases of the show. I’m a chef and co-owner at the restaurant. I’m also the landlord at the property that Sam, Drew and Danny reside at. So, I collect rent from them every month. Not to mention, that I’m the uncle to Linda.
It tends to be a lot of fun because I’m known to dip into everybody’s business, which in return they try to expose me and I then have the opportunity to get my little two cents in.
Floyd definitely adds a little zany, eclectic wisdom if you will, that even if it may come off in a very obscure form, it still tends to be very useful.
As for the weeks to come, Williams says “Expect the unexpected. The storyline with Linda will take a major twist. There will be a lot of involvement with Will and Phillip. And everyone is rooting for one or the other. So just know, that for the one that wins, it won’t be obvious.’
Tune in for all of the drama on Wednesday nights at 9pm EST, on the OWN Network. –ruthie hawkins/@ruubabie
Twitter: @palmerwilliams
Facebook: www.facebook.com/palmer.j.williams
www.palmerwilliamsjr.com
