Every so often you’ll find Jamie Foxx’s name trending on Twitter as people discuss how gifted of an entertainer he is — and the fact that we don’t talk about that enough. But even for a man who is exceptionally gifted vocally and considered one of the greatest actors — and comedians — of our time, not many saw game show host in his future. Jamie did, however. And as he gears up for the fourth season of the hit show Beat Shazam alongside his daughter Corinne Foxx, the Academy Award winner is doing exactly what he knew he’d be doing today.
“Year ago, I told my manager, I said, ‘Listen, everybody’s going to do a game show,'” Jamie tells ESSENCE. “They said ‘What?’ and I said, ‘Yo, man, the world has changed. It used to be back in the day you’d do movies and you’d have a scarf around your neck and you could only do those things. But I said the world is opening up now. It’s about not just your talent but your brand and I said the right game show was going to be huge.”
The man was right. Last season, the Fox game show averaged 3.2 million viewers each week and ranked among summer’s Top 25 broadcast programs among adults 18-49, according to Deadline. For Jamie, what makes being a part of a hit show so amazing is doing so alongside his daughter who serves as the game show deejay.
“Ours was just the right format,” he says of he and Corinne’s decision to sign on to the show. “It’s music, fun, and family. When you look at it, you’re doing a game show, and then two weeks ago you won an Oscar. I’m happy that the world opened up like that because for me I would sit at home like, man I wanna do this, I wanna do that, now we can actually do it.And how great is it to have my daughter at the helm orchestrating me? It’s great.”
Check out our full interview with Jamie and Corinne as they talk about being a father-daughter duo and co-workers in the video above.
Season 4 of Beat Shazam premieres tonight at 8pm on Fox.
