Before she landed her iconic role as the mad headmistress Abbott Elementary School, Janelle James has been touring with Chris Rock, and of course there’s a fun twist to the story of how they hooked up. The comedian who guest-starred on tonight’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, revealed how she became Rock’s touring partner – and it all started with an unexpectedly formal introduction.
While sitting down with Drew Barrymore, James said she had started her standup career for five years when Rock coldly called her and invited her on tour with him.
“An unknown number was displayed on my cell phone,” she recalls. “Who answers that? For some reason I answered and said, ‘Hello?’ And he said, ‘Janelle James! Christopher Rock.’ And I was like, ‘Damn it [out].'”
Barrymore, like the rest of us, was surprised that Rock announced himself as “Christopher,” but James said she was “glad” he did. Otherwise she wouldn’t have believed it really was him.
“I’m a comedian, we’re all idiots. It could have been someone playing a prank on me. And if he had said Chris Rock I would have hung up,” she admitted. “I would have said, ‘Whoever that is, leave me alone.’ But Christopher Rock – I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s Chris Rock.’”
James added: “It was my first big tour, he kind of took me on tour with him. And led me to a much broader fan base than I did back then, which was just white guys in the Midwest.”
Speaking of her hit ABC show Abbott Elementary School, James played what she called her “dream role” in a mockumentary-style sitcom that follows the lives of teachers at an underfunded Philadelphia school.
“I read it and I was like, ‘Oh, this lady is crazy,'” she said. “I remember when we were shooting I said, ‘I’m going to be crazy about her and do that and be crazy and hilarious,’ because she does a lot of horrible things, so she has to be convincing in a lot of ways.”
The Drew Barrymore Show airs weekdays at 9:30 p.m. ET on CBS. See more of James’ antics on screen Abbott Elementary Schoolwhich premieres Wednesdays at 9/8c on ABC.