Alfonso Ribeiro Reflects on Friendship With Will Smith Decades After ‘Fresh Prince’
Will Smith recently said watching Alfonso Ribeiro giving everything during the production of their show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air transformed Smith’s life. And during his sit-down on The Jennifer Hudson Show, Ribeiro explained his work ethic and reciprocated Smith’s admiration.
“It was wonderful to hear him say that, obviously,” Ribeiro told host Jennifer Hudson in the talk show’s March 13 episode. “Will is my brother for life. And our friendship and bond has now withstood the time of four or five decades. He’s absolutely the best. It felt great.”
Ribeiro also said why he gave it all during his time on the 1990s sitcom, even during read-throughs and rehearsals. “I believe that for writers to be able to deliver the best work that they can deliver, they need to see their work at 100 percent to know whether it worked or didn’t work,” he said. “So I would always give 100 percent in all rehearsals, because then the writer would be like, ‘Oh yeah, that joke didn’t work.’ And so I would get a new joke. Whereas certain other actors may not give 100 percent, and then you’re on show night, and that joke that didn’t work on Tuesday is still there on Friday.”
The actor said he believed he was successful play Carlton Banks on Fresh Prince because “the hard work that I would put in, going 100 percent in all rehearsals, allowed writers to write better lines for me.”
“[It was] wonderful to hear Will give me some of my flowers,” he said. “Obviously, I give him flowers all the time. He is just so incredible. He is the most talented guy I know and the most dedicated guy I know. And so it’s mutual love.”
Smith delivered those flowers in a December 2024 episode of the VICE docuseries Black Comedy in America. “There’s been a couple of creative relationships I’ve had that have totally transformed my life, where you meet somebody who understands you in a way that other people don’t understand you — and they’re able to understand you, then craft things for you to create and shine and explode. And Alfonso was that guy for sure,” Smith said, per People. “When he came in for the audition, there was like no question, that’s the one. Nobody commits as hard as Alf.”
’80s Where Are They Now
March 2023
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