Mike Epps: for a while it looked like he was more likely to become the funniest guy on his cell block than one of the comedy world's biggest raves

Despite an adolescence spent bouncing in and out of jail, comedian Mike Epps doesn't put much stock in the rehabilitative potential of our judicial system. For Epps, it was getting out that made the biggest difference. "I don't even have a junior high school education," says the 34-year-old actor, who can be seen in this month's Roll Bounce, a '70s coming-of-age roller-skating comedy directed by Malcolm D. Lee. "I was always funny, but no one wants to make a career being the funniest man on the cell block."

Following his release, Epps left his hometown of Indianapolis at the age of 21 and made his way to New York, where he got his start doing stand-up.

But while Epps may now be best known for his scene-stealing turns in films like Next Friday (2000) and All About the Benjamins (2002), two upcoming projects are set to showcase another side of the comedian: an as-yet-untitled HBO series based on Epps's own checkered past; and a Richard Pryor biopic in which he will star. "I just have to fall back on the fact that I've been through it all: the drugs, the jail, the not having, and the ho-houses," says Epps of playing Pryor, whom he has come to know. "I'm not worried about capturing the hard stuff of his life--I just want to get it right."

Jarret McNeill last wrote about tattoo artist Ami James in the August issue.

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