Anthony Anderson has dreams of taking his career in a whole new direction.
“I would love to have my own talk show,” the Black-ish alum, 52, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting his new E! reality show, Trippin’ With Anthony Anderson and Mama Doris, with his mom and costar, Doris Hancox Bowman.
Anderson continued: “I would love to just talk to interesting people. We would talk about anything that that’s going on within the world and within the community. Nothing would be off limits. And, you know, Johnny Carson had his Ed McMahon; I’m gonna have my Mama Doris, so, she gonna be my sidekick.”
Bowman, 69, chimed in: “Damn right.”
Although the Kangaroo Jack actor quipped that the hypothetical program “may only last a season” due to his mom’s “mouth,” Bowman shot back that the talk show would have “at least eight” seasons and “would be a hit.”
The mother-son duo already have experience collaborating on a television series. The pair traveled through England, France and Italy for their new reality show, which premieres Thursday, June 22, at 10 p.m. ET on E!
Anderson joked to Us that he would describe his experience filming the project as “a vacation from hell with your mother.” Although the Iron Chef America judge and Bowman get under each other’s skin at times, they get past their frustration quickly.
“We just don’t talk to each other for a little bit. Then we come back like nothing happened a little bit later. And that’s how it goes,” he explained.
The tight-knit twosome made their fair share of memories during their extended vacation. Anderson noted that the moment that most “sticks out” for him is “my mother singing in a Parisian jazz club in front of an audience.”
Bowman, for her part, fondly recalled walking the runway at African Fashion Week and discovering her knack for skeet shooting. “I walked the catwalk and I did skeet shooting and I won. I beat Anthony,” she shared. “That’s a good feeling when you beat your son. A really good feeling.”
The Illinois native had hopes of pursuing her own career in show business before she became a mother. During a March 2017 interview with Us, Anderson shared that his mom “had to put her dreams on hold” after “becoming a teen mom.” Now, he’s making it up to her.
“My mother sacrificed a lot to get me to where I am today. And this was my way of saying thank you for all of your sacrifices,” the Transformers actor told Us of Trippin’ With, which he hopes will show viewers “a great relationship between mother and son.”
Bowman, meanwhile, always knew that her son would succeed in the entertainment industry. “I predicted it when he was 18 months,” she said. “I keep telling y’all: I’m his biggest fan.”
Anderson is following in his mother’s footsteps by supporting his 23-year-old son Nathan’s acting career. (The Law & Order alum shares Nathan and daughter Kyra, 27, with estranged wife Alvina Stewart, who filed for divorce in March 2022).
“I’ve always told my son that you get out of it what you put into it. And to work hard at it and to be as true to himself and as authentic as he can possibly be and don’t be afraid of taking chances. And not letting a ‘no’ for a project discourage you moving forward,” Anderson said of his son, whose acting credits include a starring role in the 2023 Bounce series Act Your Age. “So, that’s what I told him. And that’s what he’s doing.”
Trippin’ With Anthony Anderson and Mama Doris premieres on E! Thursday, June 22, at 10 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Leanne Aciz Stanton
