Best Fresh Prince supporting character

James Avery as Phil is a tempting choice for me as he was a tough bastard but had a lot of warmth (also Avery had a way of coaxing some huge LOLs out of the character). RIP - favorite memory of performing at Disney Candlelight and him being the narrator, coming backstage to rehearsal, and telling us "Sing yo ass off!".

Carlton was sometimes annoying the more over the top ridiculous he got, but I'll never laugh as much as I did at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFX1NtxkqcE

Vivian's sass and her ability to keep Phil in line endeared her to me. But original Vivian only. Daphne Maxwell Reid played her very differently and not in a good way.

Hillary's aloofness was part of her charm.

Jazz getting thrown out every ep was a favorite touch.

I really don't know. I loved this show tho.

i think this is uncle phil in a walk

he certainly was the MVP of the episode where he took Will and Carlton to court for withholding rent due to a faulty air conditioner.

i was in love with hillary so her

one of my favorite uncle phil episodes is the one where will gets hustled at pool and phil shows up and it turns out that he's an absolute shark

Lol yea, won his Mercedes back and all

Definitely Carlton

I owned Alfonso Ribeiro's breakdance guide before the Fresh Prince days, so I already regarded him highly

feeling Geoffrey atm

loved his interactions with Phil anyway. So much schadenfreude.

We rewatched quite a few episodes of this during lockdown (thanks Netflix!) and it was such a wildly inconsistent show - some episodes were incredible, sliding-off-the-couch-laughing hilarious, and then there were some episodes which just felt like a waste of twenty minutes. But no matter how dull the premise or script is, the cast really do sell it, and it's hard not to like it even at its most mediocre.

This cast was such a treat

I wasn't a dedicated viewer, and I doubt I ever saw an episode after '92 or thereabouts, but yeah, Uncle Phil all the way.

Hilary's fiancee Trevor (Brian Stokes Mitchell!) dying due to a bungee accident was a severe wtf moment.

Yet very 90s. Bungee jumping was popular and there were high profile deaths from it in the news at the time.

Carlton's gonna take this in a walk crawl, so I'm going with Geoffrey.

Always thought a great spinoff idea for 1994 would've been to take Geoffrey, match him up with a dusted-off Mr. Belvedere and Max from Hart to Hart, and have them living together in a townhouse in a colorful setting like Miami or New Orleans, except they never leave the house for a single zany adventure because they're all unemployed and frustrated and depressed, so they just sit around doing crossword puzzles and getting into lots of bitchy little fights. It would be called No Ifs, Ands, or Butlers About It, and it would be cancelled after three episodes.

Jazz getting thrown out every ep was a favorite touch.

I was a casual viewer, but I only even saw Jazzy Jeff appear once.

that is verrrry casual bc he was in a bunch of episodes

imdb sez 47 out of 148 episodes, not bad

https://akns-images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20151017/rs_560x314-151117125934-jazzy-jeff.gif?fit=around|560:auto&output-quality=90&crop=560:auto;center,top

u always knew when he was going to get thrown bc of his shirt, bc they only recorded one of those gags.

I had a random idiotic thought some years ago that a hot line for a rapper to use would be “They call me James Avery cuz I fill up banks”

hahaha

i demand this song be made so I can hear this line

best Phil scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqPbEOKzzUA

Voted Jazz for getting thrown out, Geoffrey a close second

xp haha yes. so good.

james avery could actually chew as much scenery as will smith, which is rarefied air.

certainly helped for his turn as Master Shredder

argument in favor of Phil again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiPhLCi0ExQ

also plays to Ashley's ridiculous strengths

Aunt Viv 1, and this is why:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l22GgsIfbao

yep Viv 1 all the way

Having not seen him in anything for so long it was wild to instantly recognise Joseph 'Geoffrey' Marcell when he turned up in Ratched.

Hard choice, but just seeing a picture of Jazz makes me laugh

this showed up in my youtube subs a few weeks ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaLT_91UnRE

i have not seen an episode of this show in around 15 years

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Fair.

u always knew when he was going to get thrown bc of his shirt, bc they only recorded one of those gags.

I can’t believe I never picked up on that, lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dByvpb-5m0