Cedric the Entertainer talks of Prince, politics, hats, health

A decade ago, I interviewed Prince backstage for 90 minutes, then he handed me a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet. I thought it was pretty cool of Prince to care about my soul.

Prince doesn't Witness everyone. Cedric the Entertainer -- performing Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel -- has hung at Prince's house, and he's never gotten a pamphlet.

"He did not try to Witness me," Cedric tells me. "But I was summoned to him in a nightclub one night."

That night, Cedric was in a club and Prince's security guards approached him and said, "Prince wants to see you."

"What prince?" Cedric asked.

"Prince Prince," a security guard said.

Cedric gladly went upstairs to the club's upper level, which was closed off for Prince and a few other people.

"And he's in a nightclub, drinking coffee and looking over the crowd. I sat in Prince-silence for like 20 minutes," Cedric recalls.

"I guess he was talking to me telepathically. Maybe he was trying to Witness me then, but he didn't use the words," Cedric jokes.

Cedric and I agree Prince is "a super-good guy."

"He loves a good laugh. That's how we became friends," Cedric says.

We also both think Prince wears incredibly stylish clothes.

"Yeah, if you can wear juniors," Cedric jokes. "He's small. Dude, that is petite! He is narrow."

Lately, Cedric has been keeping his eye on the election season.

"Rick Perry -- I just want to hear him talk. He's the best material for everybody. He already seems like a 'Saturday Night Live' caricature," Cedric says.

Cedric jokes that Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are going to inspire a "Compton caucus" to raise their voices against them. Why's that?

Gingrich said last week, "I will go to the NAACP convention and explain to the African-American community why they should demand paychecks instead of food stamps."

That sounds pretty racist.

And Santorum said, "I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money."

Cedric's response?

"They're getting bold with the statements. You thought the Occupy cause was crazy? That was calm until you see the black folks go crazy," he says. "Let's see what the Compton caucus looks like."

Cedric's daily life is hectic. He's married with kids, he's prepping a new stand-up special, he's acting in movies and he's running a hat line.

Yeah, Cedric the Hat Wearer started a hat company. You can check out his fedoras, golfer caps and wool baseball caps at WhoCed.com.

As a hat fan myself, I tried on Who Ced hats at a clothing convention last year, and I thought they were the most flattering hats I've ever worn. I'm not just saying that. It's part of the reason I wanted to interview Cedric.

"They'll start coming to stores soon," Cedric says.

And at age 47, Cedric is paying more attention to his health, he says.

"When we're younger, we think we're gonna last forever, but life is fragile," he says.

He says living a comedian's life on the road is not healthy.

"Early on (in a comedy career), it's Denny's and Waffle Houses. You're drinking. You're in bars. It's a very nonhealthy lifestyle.

"You will not find a comedian on the cover of Men's Health."

Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.