After taking on Seinfeld the day before, Seth Rogen and his Table Reads series at Netflix Is a Joke Festival went in a decidedly different direction on Monday night by reading through Ice Cube and DJ Pooh’s 1995 stoner classic Friday. One of the highlights of the performance, naturally, was the recreation of the scene in which Deebo launches Red into the air after the latter asks for his bike back, leading Smokey to exclaim, “You got knocked the fuck out!”
With Rogen giving stage directions, O’Shea Jackson Jr. stood in for his father Ice Cube’s character Craig Jones. GaTa filled in as Chris Tucker’s Smokey with Brian Simpson as DJ Pooh’s Red and Lil Rel Howery as Tiny “Zeus” Lister Jr.’s Deebo.
After promising to get Craig high because “It’s Friday, you ain’t got no job, and you ain’t got shit to do,” Smokey proceeds to tell the story of exactly how Red had his run-in with Deebo. Craig Robinson and The Nasty Delicious provide the soundtrack for the transition as Rogen reads the introduction for the flashback.
“Pops tripping, man,” Red tells Deebo. “He want me to ask for my bike back.” After Deebo asks “What bike?,” Red clarifies he’s talking about the beach cruiser that he lent to Deebo a couple of weeks ago. It all goes downhill for Red from there, who “goes flying through the air and lands back by the car unconscious,” as Rogen reads.
“That’s right. That’s my bike, punk,” Deebo says before Smokey takes the opportunity to laugh at Red’s misfortune. Watch a clip of the performance below.
Rogen’s Table Reads series benefits the Hilarity for Charity Alzheimer’s nonprofit. On Sunday, Rogen recruited Jack Black, Aziz Ansari, and Kathryn Hahn to read through three classic Seinfeld episodes, highlighted by the sitcom’s “Shrinkage” scene. The remaining two performances are When Harry Met Sally and Clueless. Pick up your tickets for those table reads via Ticketmaster.
