By Jenny Halper in New York City

Eddie Griffin always knew he was destined for comedy. Voted class clown three times in high school, the Kansas City-born natural was a renowned stand-up comic well before he developed a reputation for evoking major laughs from movie audiences, most prominently in his 2002 smash "Undercover Brother."

Three years before his star-making release, Griffin had a supporting role in Rob Schneider’s vehicle "Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo." As pimp (“man whore”) T.J. Hicks, Griffin hilariously elevated Schneider’s fish tank cleaner into a uncertain prostitute- and stole scenes from Saturday Night Live veteran Schneider.

With major hits ("Undercover Brother," "Scary Movie 3") under his belt, and high profile projects ("The Wendell Baker Story," a Richard Pryor biopic) on the way, Griffin is returning to his stand-up comedy roots. Cinema Confidential recently had the opportunity to talk ratings, Europeans, and upcoming projects with the wildly popular- and crazily enthusiastic- comic and actor, currently filming an R-rated, “gut-laugh” heavy follow-up to "Deuce Bigalow" in Amsterdam.

JENNY HALPER: So you’re over in Amsterdam. That must be really cool- was it a selling point for you in doing the film?

EDDIE GRIFFIN: Most definitely.

JENNY: Any crazy stories?

EDDIE: What, about Amsterdam?

JENNY: Amsterdam, the set…

EDDIE: Amsterdam is truly free. In America we say we’re free. And prostitution’s legal- one thing a man needs (laughs). The thing that cracks me up is, everyone rides a bike here. I don’t know if you’ve been over here but its like the whole town’s training for the Tour de France.

JENNY: Any bikers hit you?

EDDIE: You’ve got to be careful crossing the street because they don’t believe in street signs. They really are free to do whatever.

JENNY: How far are you into shooting?

EDDIE: We have another month to go.

JENNY: Tell me a little bit about the sequel and how T.J. fits in.

EDDIE: The sequel is "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo," I think it’s going to be called, that’s the working title. T.J.’s in Amsterdam because Deucy, Rob’s character, calls me up and is like, “you need a vacation, let’s come hang out in Amsterdam.” And there’s a man-whore killer, there’s a guy running around killing man whores and everybody’s mistaking T.J. as the man whore killer, so he’s always at the wrong place at the right time. So they have to go undercover and do some research to find out who is the man whore killer. And that’s pretty much the sequel- I don’t want to give away the story.

JENNY: If somebody wanted to be a man whore, what advice would you give them?

EDDIE: Uh, let’s see. Keep your scrotum clean, invest in some cologne, and you got to know how to dress, cause, you know, nobody’s gonna buy a broke, beat-up man whore.

JENNY: Now that Sony is letting you do an R rated movie-

EDDIE: It’s gut laughs! You know, it ain’t those little ha ha-he he chuckles. I’m a firm believer in, if it’s a rated R movie, go rated R. Don’t be PG-13. They always running those formulaic numbers, “PG-13 will come get the family to see it…” Yeah, come see a boring-ass flick! If the movie’s about man whores, you’ve got to go there, you got to go whore!

JENNY: So you guys are going all out on this one.

EDDIE: We’re going ALL out.

JENNY: Can you talk a bit about the Richard Pryor biopic that’s going to air on Showtime?

EDDIE: Yeah, Richard’s executive producing, and it’s a dream come true, it’s a dream team, and I get to play the master. I’m playing Richard!

JENNY: When you’re playing real-life people, what are the challenges in portraying them, as opposed to simply doing an impression?

EDDIE: Not being afraid to get butt naked and let that person breathe. Don’t do an impersonation. Try to channel Richard.

JENNY: What kind of research or preparation did you do for that role?

EDDIE: I grew up with Richard. You know? He grew up in a brothel, I grew up with two pimp uncles. So we come from similar backgrounds. He’s from Peoria Illinois in the Midwest and I’m from Kansas City, Missouri. And me and Richard have been close partners for about twelve years now.

JENNY: So this role was relatively easy for you to step into...

EDDIE: Most definitely. When Richard asked, I wasn’t going to say no!

JENNY: Is "Undercover Brother 2" still a possibility?

EDDIE: Call Universal and ask them for me! I don’t know why they wouldn’t want to do Part 2 on that one. That’s a franchise if there ever was one. Yeah, put a call in to Brian Grazer.

JENNY: I’ll call them and then I’ll let you know…you also have a movie coming out with the Wilson brothers, "The Wendell Baker Story."

EDDIE: Yeah, The Wendell Baker Story, we shot down in Austin Texas.

JENNY: Can you tell me a little bit about that?

EDDIE: Me and Owen play the guys that run this old folks house, and his brother Luke plays this character whose a five and dime crook, and he’s trying to turn his life around. And me and Owen are trying to kill all the old folks, and Luke hooks up with all the old folks to do us in.

JENNY: It says on IMDB that you were voted class clown in high school- did you always know that you were destined for comedy?

EDDIE: Most definitely.

JENNY: Do you still like doing standup?

EDDIE: Just got on the stage last night. Yeah, and I’m doing a concert out here on September 18th.

JENNY: Over in Amsterdam?

EDDIE: Most definitely.

JENNY: If you could have one superhero power, what would you chose and why?

EDDIE: One superhero power. What would I choose and why…X-Ray vision.

JENNY: Why’s that?

EDDIE: So I could look through people and see if they’re full of shit!

JENNY: Last question- how different is "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo" from the original?

EDDIE: This one’s a whole lot funnier. And there’s a hell of lot more T.J. And I’m hooking up with a plethora of new strange women.

JENNY: Dutch ones…

EDDIE: Oh, all kinds.

"Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo" is scheduled for release April 2005.