[piano keys play]
♪ ♪
[playing Beethoven's
"Fur Elise"]
♪ ♪
- Three words to describe
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?"
Um...
[upbeat music]
Revolutionary.
♪ ♪
d
- Power to the people!
[laughter, cheering]
- Hilarious.
♪ ♪
[both screaming]
[laughter]
- And poignant.
♪ ♪
- Here's to
my wonderful family.
- Yeah.
- There will be
no next season
for "The Fresh Prince
of Bel-Air."
- The final episode of
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"
airs tonight on NBC.
- What a great run
for that show.
- Mm-hmm, six years.
- Sure was.
- You know, Will,
this is the last time
we'll ever live together.
[gentle piano version of
"The Fresh Prince" theme]
♪ ♪
- Five seconds,
four, three, two.
♪ ♪
- The house feels so empty.
- Yeah.
It's kinda creepy.
- Well, it's a part of us.
These walls have heard
our laughter and our tears.
Leaving is like leaving
a grand, old friend.
♪ ♪
d
[upbeat instrumental
of "The Fresh Prince" theme]
♪ ♪
d f
♪ ♪
[gentle, uplifting
piano music]
♪ ♪
- Hey.
- Oh, Daphne, come here.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
- Well, well, well.
- Snazz!
- Oh, man.
♪ ♪
- [screams, laughs]
[laughter]
- [laughing]
It's, like, classic.
It's perfect.
- Master William!
[laughter]
- The last time we were here,
we cleared this place out.
- I know.
- And we cried.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- How crazy is it
walking in here?
- The good, old days.
- The good, old days. [laughs]
- The good, old days,
look at this.
- We're missing our TV.
- That was with the,
"Hilary, will you--"
- Marry me?
d
["The Fresh Prince
of Bel-Air" theme]
- ♪ Now this is a story
all about how ♪
♪ My life got flipped,
turned upside-down ♪
♪ And I'd like to take a
minute, just sit right there ♪
♪ I'll tell you how
I became the prince ♪
♪ Of a town called Bel-Air ♪
♪ ♪
So welcome, everybody,
back to the--
the set where a big chunk
of our lives were lived out,
and when I first walked
on this set, I went, "Ah."
You know, you just don't--
you don't realize
how much life
gets spent at work.
- Yeah.
- And it's just
a beautiful thing for us
that this turned into
a real family and not work.
- Right.
- You know?
[upbeat music]
- We were all from different
parts of the world,
and the camaraderie
was just immediate.
I immediately felt comfortable
and at home.
- It was such a fast family.
You know,
you have fast friendships?
We had a really fast family.
- We have some problems,
but what family doesn't?
All I know is,
when I need these people,
they are right there for me.
- Of all the new TV shows
slated for this fall,
the one drawing
the most favorable attention
is called
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
- I have a TV show coming out.
- Uh-huh.
- And it's--you know, my--
like, the Fresh Prince,
that's--you know, that's
my nickname, the Fresh Prince.
- The Fresh Prince?
Oh, I read about you somewhere.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- What do you guys remember
about the pilot?
What are your memories?
- I remember--
[laughter]
- Hey, don't be looking like
you about to tell my business.
- I'm about to.
[laughter]
I remember the pilot.
I was beyond nervous.
I was so scared.
I was praying
for an earthquake.
- Earthquake!
- Wow.
- Earthquake?
- I was so scared.
I came out.
- Were we gonna be safe
in the, like--
- It didn't matter.
- [laughing] It didn't matter.
- I came out,
I'm saying my stuff.
I'm trying to get through
and do--just do my thing
and keep it together,
and you mouthed lines...
- Ah, damn!
- Back to me
for the first time.
All rehearsal you never did it.
- I don't--okay.
- All rehearsal,
you never did it.
The night in front
of the audience,
you looked up at me and went--
d
- And I was just going
d
- You did it to me too.
- I did it to you.
- And I was a nervous wreck,
and I was like, "Oh, my God!"
- All right, so wait.
So my side of that was
when we were on the set
of the pilot,
that was my first time,
like, really doing dialogue.
- So you did
everybody's dialogue?
- I learned everybody's.
So it's on the episode.
You can see it on the episodes.
- Oh, yeah, you can see it.
- I saw one episode, though,
where you're standing,
like, behind the couch
in the living room scene.
- Yeah?
- And it's you
and whoever else.
- Was that Don Cheadle?
- Tray!
- Prince!
Homey, homey!
[grunting]
- They literally had to show
me, and I was like [gasps].
- That's the one that was like,
"Okay, we need to change this."
- You don't go to school,
Ice Tray?
- Oh, sure I do.
I've been held back
in the tenth grade
three times in a row.
- Three times?
- Yeah, see, my motto is
when I find a grade I like,
I stick with it.
- That's terrible.
That's terrible.
Oh, wow.
Oh, that's painful to watch.
[laughter]
- She was so ugly that
Freddy Krueger used to have
nightmares about her.
- Was it the fifth episode
when you finally had enough
and you were like--
'cause I remember in rehears--
she just looked
and she said, "Stop it!"
[laughter]
I knew everybody's lines.
I would have
played Uncle Phil.
I could have played Aunt Viv.
I was--I knew
everybody's words.
Does anybody remember
their audition?
- I mean, I remember
very little of it, obviously,
but, like, I do remember--
- Oh, no.
- Oh! Ohhh!
- Alfonso Ribeiro.
- You're ten, you're ten.
- Whoo!
- Okay.
What am I wearing?
[laughter]
What have you been
doing in here?
- Just maxing and relaxing.
- I meant what have you been
doing to this room?
- Oh, I'm trying to make it
a little more [indistinct].
Malcolm X, he's my hero.
- Well, he was a great man.
I don't know if I'd call him
my hero exactly.
- Whoa. Wow.
d
- All right,
first, I would say--
- No, no, we're gonna give
that a moment of silence!
- Okay, yes.
I know I didn't go there
wearing a sweat suit
believing that I was gonna
get that character.
I don't know
what I was thinking.
I don't know
how I got that job.
- You know what thought--
- That dude sucked!
[laughter]
- No, no.
- No.
- You are so much fun to watch.
- Yeah, I wanna watch you.
- With everything you do.
- Thank goodness.
I guess somewhere along
the line people were able
to see the magic
that I clearly couldn't see.
- Do you remember
your audition?
- They had me audition
in New York,
and I remember my mom and
my aunties being really excited
because I was auditioning
for Quincy Jones.
That was my second call.
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh.
- And they had me rap,
but they had the kids,
like, last-minute,
make up a rap.
- A rap?
- Like, I can sing.
I can't rap.
Like, that's a whole
'nother skill set.
♪ Hey, there, Lord,
my name is Ashley Banks ♪
♪ My family and friends
want to give you some thanks ♪
♪ So before this dinner's
all swallowed and chewed ♪
♪ Thank you, God,
for this stupid food ♪
d
And I guess I was probably
so corny and so bad
that that's probably why--
- That's perfect!
- I remember thinking, like,
"This is really horrible."
- Do you remember
your audition?
No, I'm just--
I'm just asking.
Do you--
- Ahh!
- Karyn Parsons.
Lord, have mercy on me,
oh, my goodness.
Dad, I need $300.
- Hilary, your cousin
Will's here.
- Hi.
Dad, I need $300.
Like, I'm going on the
Save the Ozone celebrity bus
next Saturday,
and it's gonna be Bruce Willis
and Demi and Rob Lowe
and Emilio Estevez
or Charlie Sheen,
I don't remember which.
- Wow.
That's beautiful.
d
- I auditioned a lot.
- Did you really?
- I auditioned a lot,
and I remember the network one
because it was down to--
there were, like,
you know, two Hilarys,
and I was so nervous,
and I caught my reflection
in something,
and I remember I kinda
started primping and--
[laughter]
And it was like,
I started feeling her.
She started, like,
coming over--
- They're like, "You got it.
You got the role!"
- No, but you could
absolutely see--
see the Hilary.
- That was Hilary.
- Come to life.
Even as little as the way
you held your bottom jaw.
- Yeah, yeah, it's like--
- Right?
Like, it was so just,
like, ha.
- I'm in a bad mood, and
somebody is going to suffer.
- I didn't go to the audition
in 1990 because they said,
"Oh, we want you to audition
for this new sitcom
with a rapper."
I said, "Mm, pass."
[laughter]
I said, "Um, um,
thank you, no, no."
And I left,
and I watched
the show come on in September.
I said, "Oh, damn,
that's cute."
[laughter]
- Got this whole town
of Bel-Air buzzing.
- Get a load of me
and my rapping cousin!
- Yeah, you know.
So Quincy Jones basically
steamrolled me
through the whole process
without ever really
auditioning me, right?
So the only kind of audition
I had was the--
Quincy's birthday.
The show was an idea.
Benny Medina had
pitched me the idea,
and it's like,
I was making music,
and they were like,
"Come to Quincy's house.
We have this idea
for a TV show."
I'm like, "Okay," you know?
- "I'll go to Quincy's."
So I got to Quincy's house,
and Benny Medina pitched me
the whole idea of the show,
and he's like, you know,
"We have this--this idea,"
'cause it was based
on Benny Medina's life.
- His life, right.
- He went from Watts
to Beverly Hills.
So I'm like, "Cool,"
so we go to Quincy's house,
and Benny's like,
"Hey, you know, this is--
this is the Fresh Prince."
Quincy said,
"I know who that boy is.
I seen his stuff," you know?
"Hey, come on in. Come on in."
So Quincy, it's his birthday.
He had been tasting
a little bit, right?
So he was--he was
wetting his beak.
He wet his beak, right?
So he--you know, he's like,
"Come on in."
So we go in,
and he said--he said,
"Where you from?"
I said, "I'm from Philly."
He said, "Your character's
from Philly."
"Oh."
Like, "Okay.
Give me a glass of whatever
Quincy's drinking."
Right?
So it's like--
it's Quincy's birthday,
so it's like--
it's a big party,
so everybody's in there,
you know?
So it was Brandon Tartikoff,
who's the head of NBC,
Warren Littlefield,
all of that.
So everybody gets in the room,
and Quincy, he says,
"Hey!
Clear the living room out!
We gonna do an audition."
- Oh, man.
- You like go, "Who?"
- Right, I'm saying,
"Who? Who--"
Yeah, "Who's gonna audition?"
And he was like,
"Yeah, you got it.
You got it. You got it."
I said, "Q, Q, no, no,"
and he grabs me,
and he takes me
in the other room,
and he sits me down
in his office,
and there's a 48 million
"Thriller" thing.
There's a "Color Purple,"
and he sits me under this
70 Grammys, you know,
this Em--and I'm sitting under
all of that stuff, like--
and Michael's looking down
on me like--
[laughter]
So Quincy says,
"Okay, what do you need?"
and I said,
"Quincy, I'm the--I don't
know how to--I'm not an actor.
"I just--just give me
two weeks,
"Let me find an acting coach,
and let me work on it,
and then let's just set up
a proper audition."
He said, "Oh, so two weeks.
You only need two weeks?"
I said, "Yeah, yeah,
just two weeks."
He said, "So here's the deal.
"Right now everybody
"that needs to say yes
for this show is sitting out
in that living room
right now waiting for you."
- It's now.
- And I was like--
I was like,
"Give me ten minutes."
And he's like, "All right!
Audition in ten minutes!
Audition in ten minutes!"
- Far out.
- They did a deal memo
that night.
That's how we got
to the pilot that fast.
- Whoa.
- How is it possible
I've known you this long
and never heard that story?
- I know.
- I know, right?
- Do you remember,
we were on tour?
- We were in Detroit, yep.
- We were on tour
and had a day off.
- Yep.
- And Will flew and came...
- To go to
"The Arsenio Hall Show."
- And said, "I got a TV show."
[laughter]
Being from Philly,
"I got a TV show"
was a homeboy
with a camcorder.
No one thought anything
other than that.
- It was probably
six weeks later,
we were on the set, right?
- Wow.
- Okay, Will, just come
downstage a little.
Okay, actually,
no, you're fine, and go.
- I remember
our first table reading.
Will and Alfonso
were chasing each other
around the table.
[laughter]
There were network executives
and all kinds of thi--
you know,
really powerful people,
and they were just playmates
from the very beginning.
- Look who's here, Will.
- Hey!
Who is he?
- One of the things I've always
been able to recognize
in my life is chemistry.
- Mm-hmm.
- And that really came alive
on the show,
the comedic relationship
that we were able to develop.
[jazzy music]
♪ ♪
The initial focus of
the show was going to be
Will, Uncle Phil collisions.
- Oh, my God.
- We started to see
the dynamics
between the other characters,
and Uncle Phil, Aunt Viv
were holding the base,
and Will and Carlton
being able to run wild.
- Yo, how you playing me,
Prince?
- What?
- Yo, you dissin' me!
- C'mon, man, stop it!
It became clear very quickly
that that was the most powerful
comedic asset of the show.
[The Sugarhill Gang's
"Apache"]
♪ ♪
- ♪ Tonto, jump on it ♪
♪ Jump on it, jump on it ♪
- We understood that someone
had to be the straight man.
- Yep, absolutely.
- For the other person's
silliness and comedy.
- Absolutely.
d
♪ ♪
- It was never
as crystal clear
as "this is a Carlton moment,"
or "this is a Will moment."
- Mm-hmm.
- It was always the show
that came first.
- I saved your life!
You owe me!
[gentle music]
♪ ♪
- We knew that we could rely
on each other,
and there was always
a respect and a trust.
[police siren blaring]
Is that the police?
- Punch it, man.
We in a Benz.
- Are you crazy?
I'd call this a lucky break.
A policeman is our pal.
We can ask him for directions.
The episode where Will
and Carlton get pulled over
made it abundantly clear that
Will came from the streets,
Carlton grew up in Bel-Air.
- Listen to me, Carlton.
When he comes up,
keep your hands on the wheel.
- Good evening, officer.
Carlton Banks.
- Keep your hands
on the wheel.
- Culturally,
we learned how to see
other people's points of view.
- Even when you make
fun of me,
I know you're doing it
out of love.
Influences change people.
Will learned from Carlton.
Carlton learned from Will.
You can't be the same kid
before Will
comes into that house
and be the same kid
six years later.
Admit it, Will.
You care about me.
- I do not.
- You love me.
- [yelling] Hey, my brother,
you wanna take this outside?
[both grunting]
How about you do the Carlton
dance real quick?
Do the Carlton dance.
- How about I don't
and say I did?
- I never, ever could do
the Carlton dance.
For whatever reason,
I can't find the--
there's an opposite thing
that he does,
and I can't--I just never--
I never was able to get it.
- The first time,
all it said in the script
was, "Carlton dances,"
and I needed to figure out
how this character
would dance.
What would be the actual move
that hit it perfect?
- You got to do it.
One last time for me, man.
[Tom Jones'
"It's Not Unusual"]
♪ ♪
- That final moment
doing it together,
that was, like,
Will finally making
the full acceptance
of Carlton,
and we are in sync
and as one.
- ♪ About with anyone ♪
♪ It's not unusual
to see me cry ♪
♪ I wanna die ♪
d
- We did six seasons
and, you know, 150 episodes,
so it's like, finding
my favorite moment
is really hard.
This is a job
for Sherlock Homeboy.
- My favorite episode
is "Def Poet's Society."
- Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. Rafael de la Ghetto!
d
- The Rafael de la Ghetto
was fun for Joe
to break character.
- Cannons to the right of them!
- Cannons to the left of them.
Cannons in front of them.
Volleyed and thundered!
Talk about ham acting,
that's brilliant.
- One of my most
memorable moments
was in the first season
when you guys
blackmailed Hilary.
d
I was really worried
about how people
were gonna feel about Hilary
all the time, and I'm like,
"They're just gonna hate her.
They're gonna hate her.
They're gonna hate her,"
which was true,
and I found out
just how much in that episode.
- That's awful.
Is he making you
clean his room?
- No.
- Will you clean mine?
[laughter]
- Do you remember
the audience?
- I do remember.
- The audience, yeah.
- They started
stomping out there.
d
- Hilary!
- Woof!
- [clears throat]
- A lot of sitcoms
just had the--[laughs]
You know,
they had the laugh knob
that they would turn up,
and there were moments
on the show
where we had to dial
the laughter back.
- Hilary Banks!
- Oh, yes, Trevor?
- Will you marry me?
d
- The Trevor moment
was another one of those--
- Oh.
- Yes.
- One of those
sustained laughs.
[laughter]
- I ain't no bungee expert
or nothing,
but I don't think
he's supposed to be slamming
into the ground like that.
- I had my first kiss
on the show.
Like, my first actual kiss.
- I think I'd feel better
if I-I could kiss you.
d
- I was so nervous,
and we're about
to do the scene.
Is it terrible that
I want to kiss you back?
And I swear to you,
I see Alfonso, Will and Karyn
peek out from behind
a camera like, "Oh."
- Can I blow in your ear?
d
- That was all so--
like, I was 11,
having, like, breakdown--
like, "I don't know
what I'm doing.
I don't know how to do this,"
because everything--
- Think of you doing that
as an 11-year-old--
- You gotta act like
you got this tic, right?
Like the Army did this
experiment on you, right,
that just went terribly wrong.
You be like,
"Back up! Back up!
"Mind your business,
that's all.
Mind your business."
Back up! Back up!
Mind your business, that's all.
Just mind your business.
- That's good.
- Me getting tossed out
was written into
the very first show that I did.
When it aired,
everybody loved it.
- When do we eat here?
- We eat here later.
You eat here never.
- Looks like
you eat here often.
[sprinkler clicking]
Ahh!
One day we filmed maybe
about 150 takes
of me getting tossed
out of the house.
Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!
I think they didn't want
to torture me anymore,
so that's the reason why they
started using the same shot,
and then that became a thing,
that every time I walked
into a scene
and I had that shirt on,
the audience kind of knew
what was coming up.
- You know the drill.
- Uh-oh.
Ahh!
- My favorite moment,
I think--
I think--and there's
so many things,
but one that comes to mind
right away of my favorite
is when you lost your mind
and dragged yourself
across that floor.
- Oh, my goodness.
- That's my favorite.
- Yes.
- That's my favorite scene.
- And into the--
that was, I think--
I've never laughed
that hard in my life.
- Oh, my gosh,
he's still up there!
- Oh, my God!
Oh, my God!
- I don't know what
you were doing.
- What got into you?
- Like, what--what--
- No, no, no, so--
- But, like, what--
how do you know
how to do that?
- There's a lot of things
that I do
that I don't know
how I do, but--
How could you do it?
Oh, God!
No, no, no!
The scene was set up
perfectly for it,
and I was like, "Let's just
break the fourth wall
and go absolutely crazy."
How could you do it?
Never before
had those moments--
- Be allowed to be--
- Be allowed to be on TV.
d
- That was a serious no-no.
You don't break the fourth wall
in sitcom television.
- How could he do that?
Oh, my God!
- I'm telling you, that
breaking of the fourth wall
with the audience,
that's a--
that's a really special part
of that connection
that we had with the audience.
- Yeah.
- Look at me
when I'm talking to you.
d
[laughter]
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- Run!
- There's something
different about you.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- We so rich.
Why we can't
afford no ceiling?
[laughter]
- That was cute.
- Like, that--
that relationship
with the audience,
it was like they were in
on the joke with us.
- And I always felt like
the audience appreciated...
- Being brought in.
- Being let in.
- Yeah.
- Right?
Like, you're watching this,
and it's written, wink, wink.
- And while we're
on the subject--
[static crackles]
- That's kinda fly, right?
Don't you wish you lived on TV?
- When we were doing the show,
I have to say
I always felt like
it was just us
and the audience
that was present.
I had no sense of millions
of viewers beyond that.
- Oh.
- Let alone decades
and generations after that.
- Yeah.
- I just want to sit here
and watch a little TV.
- It was three shows.
It was
"Monday Night Football."
It was "Monday Night Movie."
And "The Fresh Prince
of Bel-Air."
- People would leave
"Monday Night Football,"
go over to
that other channel,
and watch
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
- It's like a beautiful
underdog position
where you're not
really expected to win.
You're not gonna beat
"Monday Night Football,"
but we enjoyed the rumble.
d
Now it's on!
- People loved watching
the show,
which meant a lot
because they didn't have it
on their phones.
You had to actually
watch it to see it,
and then the next day
you would have to read
about it in the newspaper.
[upbeat music]
- I realized that
this show was bigger
than I could
have ever expected
when there were
80-year-old grandmothers
that would come up to me
and say, "Jazz."
That freaked me out
because I didn't correlate
that people were recognizing
you from the television show.
♪ ♪
- One thing special to me
about the show was
we had a really unique
and distinct fashion sense.
[screams]
- I didn't realize
how much freedom we had
when it came down
to the clothes.
- We always wanted to have
the hottest stuff on.
You know, we were
always trying to find
what was
the hottest new thing.
- It isn't as easy
at it looks.
♪ ♪
- This was a very
impactful time
in pop culture,
where, you know,
you wanted to be fly.
- Eh, it's a little something
I put together.
Jordan would send over
the new Jordans
six weeks before they
were coming out.
- You don't realize, you're
wearing a pair of Jordans
that this picture
is circulated
among sneakerheads
for the past 30 years.
- Ah.
That's what's wrong.
- What?
- Ha ha.
- You know, I think that
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"
is a bigger hit now
than it was ever before.
- Yes, it's the cast,
and the cast is fun to watch
and all of that, but I think
it's the idea of it
as the part that, I think,
translates
to so many different places.
- For years, I've had
people come up to me and say,
"This show was
my favorite show,
and now it's my son's
favorite show."
And I think "The Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air"
had a lot of impact.
- The things
that stuck out for me
whenever I've thought
of this show
has always been our Tuesdays
and Wednesdays run-throughs.
- The way the week would work,
we'd come in on Monday.
Everybody's there,
writers, producers,
director, everybody,
and we read the screenplay.
- Why don't you, Mom?
It's all hollow and
meaningless anyway, so--
Did I say it right?
I'm--
- We'd come in on Tuesday,
and we'd kinda block it,
and we'd work it,
but it was our time
to present
our ideas
and our thoughts and,
"Hey, what if it was like this?
What about that?"
- And I just kinda stop
and just watch?
- Yeah, 'cause you supposed
to hear the kids
and turn back around.
- Okay.
- That Tuesday and Wednesday
would be a beautifully
collaborative period
where the actors
would find the soul
and the truth of the moments
for these characters.
- The idea that we,
as a Black show on TV,
one of three at the time,
right?
There weren't really us
in the writers room,
and as an actor,
you never had a voice.
You never had a voice
in the room.
You were a puppet
who was told what to do.
- Take your notes.
- Say this line.
- Yeah.
- Move over here.
- At some point the producers
and the writers
wanted to make Hilary
a strong Black woman.
They wanted to, like,
see that switch in her,
and then I felt like,
you know,
there are some people
who are just flawed
and see things a certain way,
and you can learn a lot
from them too.
Look, I'm a career woman.
I don't have time to dust
and push around that--
oh, what do you call
that big, loud thing
that sucks up everything?
- We were able to share
the experience,
the real experience
and gave those writers
our perspective.
- Yeah.
- You can put your hands
down, Jazz.
- No way.
Dude's got a gun.
Next thing you know, I got
six warning shots in my back.
When we did
the courtroom scene,
there was a level
of truth to it.
That's the reason
why they wrote it.
I'm putting
my hands down now.
- Part of the power
of what we would always do
with "The Fresh Prince,"
there would be
very powerful ideas
under the jokes
and under the comedy.
- You can wear the T-shirts,
you can put up the posters,
and you can shout the slogans,
but unless you know
all the history behind it,
you're trivializing
the entire struggle.
- That is one of those things
that I think
kinda makes people understand
just how groundbreaking
this show was.
- It is as relevant today
as it was 30 years ago,
unfortunately.
- Whenever we would come
across moments
that they wrote that was like,
"This wouldn't happen..."
- Right.
- "Black people don't do this."
- Right.
- Yes.
- Tuesday and Wednesday is
what made this show special,
because we made sure that we
were authentic every episode.
- I had spent a career
being on shows
that showed the variety
of the Black culture,
showing that we were not just
a monolithic group of people
with one idea
and one lifestyle,
and when I got here,
we had the freedom
to express to the writers
the cultural aspects of what
they had in the written word.
I remember a table read
one Monday,
and there was some line that
they had given Tatyana to say,
and I said, "Excuse me,
if Tatyana says that
to her daddy,
she'd lose her teeth."
- Yeah, yeah,
exactly, exactly.
- So no, culturally,
we don't do that.
- James used to sit
where you're sitting...
- Yep.
- That was James's spot.
- During those note sessions,
and that is where I learned
that
what we do is not for us.
It's not about us.
We are here
to bring dignity...
- Mm-hmm.
- To represent, to expand,
to push forward,
and I learned that here
at his feet.
[lively music]
♪ ♪
- This one takes the cake.
- James is the heart
of the show.
- I love you, Uncle Phil.
- We knew that
he knew the answers
or could guide folks
to the answers.
- Carlton, sit.
- As you wish, Father.
- James had a very deep love
of jazz music,
and I would spend a lot
of times in his dressing room,
and he would give me jazz CDs.
- You know, he got his
Billie Holiday picture
up on the wall,
a little Charlie "Bird"
Parker, you know?
Boy, I'm telling you,
this man got mad flavor.
- The music that
was coming out of his room
was always just amazing.
- Ashley, honey,
this is possibly
the most beautiful music
ever written.
- He was my teacher.
I learned what it means
to be an artist from him.
- Learning that there's
other works,
there's other arts
out there
that would help you understand
yours even better.
- I was watching
this Robeson documentary,
and James used to bring up
Paul Robeson.
He, like, introduced me
to Black art in ways that
I wouldn't have gotten
that education anywhere else,
and I'm watching
this documentary,
and they're talking about him
singing "Ol' Man River."
♪ ♪
Him changing the word
from "nigger" to "darkie."
- Darkie, yeah.
- How hard he had to fight
for that one word.
- Yeah.
- It wasn't that long ago.
- And it wasn't
that long ago.
So you think about that,
you think about all the shows
that came before--and I'm
just talking about television.
- Every little step.
- And now what we see,
it's such a privilege
to be a part of that.
- Yes.
- Yeah.
- You know, that history,
and those notes sessions,
that's where I went to school,
like, that's--
- And that was--
no, that was the thing.
James, he pushed me so hard.
- You think you're so wise.
Look at me
when I'm talking to you.
Let me tell you something, son.
I grew up on the streets
just like you.
I encountered bigotry
you could not imagine.
Now, you have a nice poster
of Malcolm X on your wall.
I heard the brother speak.
I read every word he wrote.
Believe me,
I know where I come from.
- His thing was that I am
in such a unique position,
and that responsibility,
you must elevate your craft.
You have to represent,
and you are paving a way,
and he just wouldn't
give me an inch,
and I remember in the--
one of my favorite
and most famous scenes
from "Fresh Prince"
is the father episode.
Hey, what's up, man?
Can I get you something?
- No, I'm fine, son.
- Um, if you need--
- So is he a cop?
- He's my father.
So, you know, James Avery
was this 6'4",
300-pound...
- Plus.
- Yeah.
- Stage-trained...
- Yeah.
- Shakespearean beast, right?
And I'm--I'm the little rapper
from Philly under him, right?
And I wanted him to think
I was good so bad.
- You wanted him
to be proud of you.
- I wanted him
to be proud of me,
so the episode comes,
and, you know,
we come to that scene,
and I was like, I'm--you know,
I wanna deliver
this scene so bad,
and if you remember,
in front of the audience,
I flubbed my line
on the take.
- Mm-hmm.
- And I messed it up
in front of the audience,
and my mind snapped,
and I'm like, "Aghh!"
I'm like,
"Ahh! Damn it!"
And James says,
"Hey!
Right here!"
and I was like--and
he was like, "Use me!"
And I'm like--
and I'm right there,
and he takes, and he's like,
"Get yourself together,"
And I get it together,
and I'm looking,
and he says, "Action."
- I'm sorry, I--
You know, if there was
something that I could do--
- Hey, you know what? You ain't
got to do nothing, Uncle Phil.
You know, ain't like I'm still
five years old, you know?
Ain't like I'ma be sitting up
every night asking my mom,
"When is Daddy coming home?"
You know? Who needs him?
And the scene that we do
is the scene that ended up
being in the episode.
I ain't need him then,
and I don't need him now.
- Will, Will--
- Nah, you know what,
Uncle Phil?
I'ma get through college
without him.
I'm get a great job
without him.
I'ma marry me
a beautiful honey,
and I'ma have me
a whole bunch of kids.
I'ma be a better father
than he ever was!
And I sure as hell
don't need him for that
'cause ain't a damn thing
he could ever teach me
about how to love my kids!
d
How come he don't
want me, man?
And I fall into his arms
at the end of the scene,
and he's holding me,
and, you know,
the shot pans off,
and he whispered
in my ear,
he said,
"Now, that's acting," right?
- That's right.
- "That's acting,"
and I was like, "Ahh!"
[laughter]
You know, every single time.
- I cry every time I see that.
- Every single time,
you know?
And it's like, he just--
he, um--he, uh--
it's like--oh, come on.
Don't do this.
- I know, I'm s--
I'm sorry.
- Tatyana throwing me off.
[laughter]
And it's like, when--
it's like, people do--
people don't even know
when they're shaping you
and forming you
and crafting you.
- He knew.
- In that w--he knew.
No, that's what I'm saying.
- I think he knew.
- He knew what he was doing.
- There's some people
that plant seeds.
- Yep.
- That's what they do.
And they do it to anyone
they come across.
- I mean, he was--
he was proud of who he was.
He was proud of his race.
He was proud of the history
of his race.
- Yes.
- And, you know,
he could see it, you know?
And it fell upon you,
you know?
It fell upon you
to grab the rein.
- Vote for Philip Banks.
Philip Banks.
Break out Lucille.
[laughter]
[upbeat music]
I've got a few questions
for you.
When you got
this alleged confession
from these two young men,
did they have a lawyer present?
No, so, officer,
just open that damn cell
and let those two boys
out of there,
or I'm gonna tie this place up
in so much litigation
that your grandchildren
are gonna need lawyers!
d
- That's right.
♪ ♪
[screaming]
- Nicky, you remember in
"The Lion King" when Mufasa--
- Daddy, did you sit on Harry?
[laughter]
- Yes, but--but--
- That's okay, Dad.
Death is a natural part
of life.
[applause]
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- All right, all right.
- Oh ,no.
- Now, noble Geoffrey,
the gods today stand beside us.
[laughs]
- A lot of good times
in this house, huh?
- A lifetime's worth.
♪ ♪
Trust me, Will.
I know it doesn't feel
like it right now,
but what they say is true.
Winning really
isn't everything.
I'm sorry
I let you down, son.
- You could never
let me down, Dad.
♪ ♪
- I love you.
Just remember,
happiness comes from inside.
- I love you, Daddy.
- Nobody does anything
without help, Will.
People opened doors for me,
and I've worked hard
to open doors for you.
It doesn't make you any less
of a man to walk through them.
♪ ♪
I have something special.
- You always said
that spending time
with me and the family
was the most important thing
to you.
- I'm lucky to have
such a wonderful family.
♪ ♪
- Look, Uncle Phil, I just
don't want you to think
that I'm that same
stupid kid I was
when I first
moved out here.
I love you, Uncle Phil, and
I just don't want to lose you,
you know, any of you.
- You're not gonna lose us.
You are my son, Will.
End of story.
♪ ♪
- [sniffling]
- Amen.
Well, guys,
give him a hand.
- Yeah.
- Give him a hand.
- Yes.
- Oh, James, I miss you.
- James, man.
- Whew.
[smooth R&B music]
I think what happens
on family shows like this,
it's one of those things,
you cannot buy
or fake chemistry.
It's just the way that
we all came together
as a group was very special.
So as a family, you know,
we have our things
that we talk about
and then we have our things
that we don't talk about.
- Where are you going
with this?
- Yeah, I know.
- You know?
We never really together,
like, publicly
talk about...
um, Janet.
- Hmm.
- And what happened,
and for me,
it felt like
I couldn't celebrate
30 years of "Fresh Prince"
without finding a way
to celebrate Janet.
So she agreed to sit down
and have a conversation
with me,
and Janet and I saw
one another
for the first time in 27 years
yesterday.
- Wow.
- And I wanna show
you guys some of--
- Oh, my gosh.
- Ooh, wow.
- Take a seat here.
- Okay.
- Thank you very much.
If you need anything at all,
let me know.
- Okay.
- Okay, thank you.
- Tell me if my eyes glow
like a raccoon
'cause they sometimes do.
- Your eyes look spectacular.
[both chuckle]
[gentle music]
♪ ♪
It's so good to see you.
- You too, you too.
Oh, my God.
Where are you sitting?
Been a long time.
- It's been
a real long time, 20--
- 30.
- My name is Janet Hubert,
and I played the role
of Vivian Banks.
I guess they call me the O.G.,
the original Aunt Vivian.
- The night is young, baby,
and so am I.
My life is great.
This party is gonna be great,
and I look fantastic.
- Janet brought such
authenticity and dignity.
- My name is not Mom.
My name is Professor Banks.
That is how I prefer
to be addressed.
Is that clear, class?
all: Yes, Professor Banks.
- I didn't expect
to get the role
because I had not seen anyone
who looked like me
playing those kinds of roles.
- We just want to make sure
that the person we get
is properly qualified.
- For example,
a college professor
with a PhD who's taught
Black history and literature
at the university level?
- Where are we gonna find
someone like that?
- You're looking at her.
- Janet was this beautiful,
dark-skinned,
talented--she could sing.
She could dance.
♪ ♪
- One, two, three.
Ooh.
- I enjoyed it.
I loved it.
I loved the way they wrote.
I loved that
she was professional.
I loved that she was
intelligent, she was refined,
but I also loved
that she could throw down.
This has got to be
the biggest amateur operation
I have seen since
"Mayberry R.F.D."
It was a rare thing
to be able to say,
wearing a $5,000 sweater,
"What? What?
Philip?"
Oh, honey, we 'bout
to get very busy up in here.
"Hold me back.
Hold me back."
- There was a certain
foundational element
that was broken
when Janet left.
- Well...
This has been tough.
- Yeah.
- Has it been tough for you?
- Oh, yes, it has.
- Yeah.
I just wanted
to know one thing.
- Mm-hmm?
- Why?
Why so far?
You guys went so far.
I lost so much.
- I think what would be...
- How do we heal that?
- Helpful for me is,
like, I know--
- You look good,
by the way.
- Oh, thank you. Thank you.
You look beautiful, as always.
- Older, wiser.
- So I think it would be
helpful for me--
like, I don't know your story.
- Mm-hmm, I know.
I know.
- You know?
- I know.
- I don't know--
- You have no idea.
- You know,
I don't know your story.
- It was insane.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
Something I would
like to clarify
is during that third season
when I got pregnant,
there was a lot of things
going on in my life
and in Will's life as well.
There was some friction
because I was pregnant.
Home life was not good at all.
I was no longer laughing,
smiling, joking
because there were things
that were going on
that nobody knew about.
The cast had no idea
what was going on.
- You know, during that time
of her pregnancy,
I wasn't sensitive.
I wasn't perceptive,
and, you know, now
that I've had three kids,
I learned some things that
I did not know at the time,
and I would do things
very differently,
but I can see
where I made the set
very difficult for Janet.
- They offered me
this really bad deal
in the third season.
They said,
"You've got two months
"and two weeks of work,
and you cannot work
anywhere else."
So that meant
my salary was cut.
I had a new baby and a husband
who was out of work,
so I said no.
I did not accept their offer.
I was never fired.
So the misconception
was always put out there.
I was trapped.
What could I do?
So they said, "Okay, then
we're gonna recast your role,"
and I said,
"What can I say?"
I was hurt deeply, deeply.
- So talk me through
because I was having
a different experience.
- You were going forward
and getting bigger,
but we knew you were
going to be huge.
I mean, we all knew that.
I even said that, that part
of the success of the show
was because of your success,
but you were destined
for that as well,
but when I left the show,
I had this new baby
and no one.
Family disowned me.
Hollywood disowned me.
My family said,
"You've ruined our name,"
and I wasn't unprofessional
on the set.
I just stopped talking
to everybody
because I didn't know
who to trust
because I had been banished,
and they said it was you
who--who banished me
because you were--
you were Will.
You were a kid.
It was hard.
- Yeah.
I was, uh, 21 years old.
- Yeah.
- You know?
- I know. I know.
- Everything was
a threat to me.
- Why was I a threat?
- Not you, the world.
I was so driven by fear,
and jokes and comedy
and all of that was how--
- Yeah, yeah, you were--
you were live.
- Yeah.
- You were live.
- But what you didn't
realize either,
that I was going through
a lot at home.
- Mm-hmm, right.
- You didn't know.
- Yup, yup.
- You guys didn't know,
very abusive marriage.
- You know,
I have children.
- Yeah.
- I've been divorced
and have a second marriage.
And I can see now
the level of pain
and the level of struggle
that it was for you
just to show up every day,
and then--
- But you took all that away
from me with your words.
You know, words can kill.
- Mm-hmm.
- I lost everything,
reputation,
everything, everything,
and I understand you were
able to move forward,
but you know those words,
calling a Black woman difficult
in Hollywood
is the kiss of death.
It's the kiss of death,
and it's hard enough
being a dark-skinned
Black woman in this business,
but I felt it was necessary
for us to finally move forward.
- Yep.
- And I'm sorry that I have
blasted you to pieces.
- Nah, it's--it is so--
first of all, thank you
for sharing that with me.
Like, I didn't know that.
When I've looked back now,
it's--
you know, it's obvious that you
were having a hard time, and...
I felt like you hated me.
- No.
- You know, I--
I could not do
a 30-year celebration
of this show
and not celebrate you,
celebrate your contribution
to the show,
celebrate your contribution
to my life, you know?
And--
- Come here, you.
- [chuckles]
27 years, I think--
I think we were just
short of 27 years
that we didn't speak
to one another,
and I'm just--
I'm glad we're talking again.
The person I want to be
is someone who protects you,
not someone
that unleashes dogs on you,
and however--
- I appreciate that.
- You know, it's--
- I appreciate that.
I have to say,
after 27 years,
being here today
and having the conversation
that Will and I had together,
it's healing.
I was watching the dance
episode the other day,
and that's become
one of the crazy,
iconic--
- Yeah.
- They send me videos
from all over the world.
- On the TikTok right now.
- Of their mamas doing it.
- I know, right?
- Oh, God. Their mamas--
- Listen, the Aunt Viv, boy,
rocking the Aunt Viv.
- The Aunt Viv.
[laughter]
I don't know if it's real.
I feel like this is a dream.
I didn't come here
to have animosity.
I came here to resolve,
'cause it's time.
You still feel like--
- Like I'm little?
- Yeah.
[laughter]
Yes.
- You're still my Aunt Viv.
You're still my Aunt Viv.
- Yeah, you do.
It's so weird.
You know, we've said
such hateful things
about each other publicly.
- Oh, I know.
Ugh.
- And I'm sorry.
- I'm sorry.
- And I'm sorry too.
♪ ♪
We good?
- We good.
- We are good.
[gentle piano music]
♪ ♪
One of the major things for me,
it was the first time
I was ever able to see
how much pain she is in
and was in and just...
- Jesus.
- What she was carrying,
you know,
what she was trying to hide,
what she was trying
to hold onto,
and, you know,
she set a tone,
and she set a--
set a standard on this show
that's an integral part
of the success
of "The Fresh Prince,"
you know?
So she asked to--
you know, were you guys open
to speak to her,
and, you know, is--
- I've never met her.
- You've never met her?
- I have never met her.
- Wow.
[piano music]
♪ ♪
Janet Hubert Whitten,
ladies and gentlemen.
- Hey.
d
What's up?
♪ ♪
- Seeing Daphne and Janet,
my two moms,
the two Aunt Vivs
come together,
and they've never met before.
Seeing them meet
for the first time and embrace
was the most incredible thing.
It was like--almost like
something just released.
It was so beautiful.
- That was chilling.
That was a full-circle moment.
- It just--it made my heart
really full.
♪ ♪
- I cannot tell you
how unbelievable
and wonderful it feels
that I--I'm overwhelmed.
- I don't wanna be that guy,
you know?
I go out in the world,
and I, you know,
talk about understanding
and human relationships
and then have somebody
that I hadn't spoken to
in 27 years.
I just--I'm so happy
that we were able
to make that reconciliation,
and I hope other people
can take something from it.
What was so great
about this show
was how we became a family.
You kinda fall
into your roles and--
- Hey!
[all cheering]
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- Oh, that's so awesome!
- Good to see you.
- Yes, hello.
- Nicky, Nicky.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Hey, my man.
How are you, buddy?
- My baby grew up.
- Great to see you.
- Good to see you too.
- What's up, man?
- What's up? What's up?
Man, it's so good
to see everybody.
This is so surreal.
I mean, the recreation
of the set is incredible.
I mean, I feel like
a kid again.
- Oh, yeah?
[laughter]
As I look back to this show
it just captured a time
in our lives
that is really the golden era
of my career.
Come on,
let's go on inside.
Let's check to see
what's going on on the set,
you know, backstage
and all that.
- Ah, the Friday night ritual.
What was it like?
- We'd go to Will's room.
He would be jamming in there.
[The Sugarhill Gang's
"Apache"]
all: Ho! Ho! Ho!
- You'd just start
hearing music
coming from
Will's room, booming,
and you'd just start following
like the Pied Piper.
♪ ♪
- ♪ Tonto, jump on it,
jump on it ♪
- We would
have music playing.
We would dance, jam,
have a great time,
singing, rapping, whatever.
- It was just kinda like,
"Oh, my God, this is
a Friday night party."
♪ ♪
- ♪ Apache, jump on it,
jump on it ♪
- It was kind of like,
I think, what you would do
before a concert
or something, you know?
The whole band gets together
and says a prayer.
- I just have to say there's
not another group of people
that I would rather be
in this kind of circle with
149-some-odd times.
- Hey.
- Yeah.
- Yeah!
- Yeah.
- Yeah!
- Man.
- Ditto.
- Oh, ditto.
Even though James takes up
most of the circle.
- Ditto. As well I should.
[laughter]
- Let's go out there,
and let's just have some fun.
Let's give 'em some!
[all cheering]
- We changed the way
sitcoms were shot.
[hip-hop music]
♪ ♪
- People would come
to the taping
like they were
going to a club,
and it was
a full-on experience.
Yo, yo, yo!
♪ ♪
- We'd have our moment
together,
and then we'd head out.
- And we would get
to our living room,
and there was
a little dairy basket
of musical percussion
instruments.
- Oh, that's a good one.
That's a good one, hold on.
All right, I think
I'ma do that.
I'ma do that, all right.
So this is how we would do.
This is how--
this is how we do.
[announcer shouting,
cheers and applause]
- We'd each grab one,
and we would start.
- Sometimes it was just sticks.
It was all kinds of stuff
to bang
on the walls
and create rhythms.
- The energy that that created
for a live performance
is not to be believed.
- All right, yeah, yeah,
all right,
we about to go
on stage with it live.
The audience is out there.
- We would just
get the energy
up to here
and then, like, surf.
- Miss Tatyana M. Ali!
- It felt like it was a show.
It wasn't a TV show.
It was a show.
- Alfonso Ribeiro!
There he is.
Ms. Karyn Parsons!
Hilary!
Ms. Daphne Maxwell Reid!
Vivian!
James Avery, Uncle Phil!
- I wanted to hit the stage
like a fighter, you know,
with your theme music
coming and all that.
- Mr. Will, Will Smith!
d
- Will kinda brought
the energy
that we had in doing
music to the show,
crowd participation,
throw your hands in the air.
- Let me hear you say, "Yeah!"
all: Yeah!
- Say, "Hell yeah!"
all: Hell yeah!
- Everybody scream.
[all cheering]
- Everyone felt like
they wanted to be
at a "Fresh Prince" taping
on a Friday night.
It was the hottest ticket
in town, as they called it.
- Now everybody scream!
d
Oh, yeah!
There was nothing like that.
- He walked right by.
[laughter]
- Aw.
- Get off me!
both: Mwah!
- [chuckles]
We knew at the end
of season five
that there would
only be one more season.
[somber music]
- Welcome to the--
welcome to the final reading.
- The final.
- Of "The Fresh Prince
of Bel-Air."
All right, gang, here we go.
Let's give it a read.
We fade in
for the last time.
[laughter]
- It was hard to come
to terms with, you know?
It was six years
of playing house
with people I adored.
- We really did
become family,
and it's something that is
the essence of the show.
- It's so strange because now,
like James was saying
and what Tatyana was saying,
everybody,
we're such a family now,
and it's just so sad.
This is so sad.
This is so hard.
You know, I was an only child,
so here all of a sudden
I have a--
I have a brother
and a sister,
and I had Will,
who was like a brother,
and, you know, James Avery
took being my father
very seriously.
He called me "daughter."
- Alfonso was absolutely
a big brother to me.
Karyn is just a woman
that I look up to and admire.
♪ ♪
- A lot of good times
spent in this house.
- A lifetime's worth.
- I'm not gonna miss
the house though.
I'ma--I'ma miss all the people
that lived in the house.
You know, but I want you
to call me on Sundays
when you call
the rest of the--
well, I want you
to call me on Sundays
when you call the rest
of your children.
I love you, Uncle Phil,
and I don't wanna lose you,
I mean, any of you.
- They embrace.
- Think about, like,
people that you see
every single day
for six years of your life,
in the--you see them more
than you see your own family.
- Okay, and we're out.
[applause]
- This has been very unique
for all of us,
and I can honestly say,
'cause I've been working
about 15 years or so,
I don't know, but this has been
the best experience
in terms of a TV show,
in terms of people
and friends and happiness,
and I've got to stop now.
[laughter]
Okay.
- Thank you.
- All right.
- You know, it was a very
difficult week for all of us,
knowing that we were never
gonna be together again
like that ever again.
- You know, we've been--
we've been blessed in a way
that a lot of people
don't get to experience
and to be able to do
what we love,
but to also put things out
in the world
that display our love.
And I've done a lot
of things in my life,
and I just want
to thank all of you
for making this
the most beautiful job
and life experience
that I've ever had.
[gentle music]
Y'all know that this
the final episode
of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,"
right?
You know, it's sad,
but we had a six-year run,
so we would like
for y'all to sit back
and enjoy the second half
of what you just watched.
Ladies and gentlemen,
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,"
for the last time,
coming at you.
Peace!
d
The final week
was interesting for me.
It was all--it was all--
it's still--
it was fuzzy in my mind.
I think that's part
of my emotional defense.
I always live in the future.
My mind is always
in the next space,
and I think as a child,
that's how I learned to avoid
the pain of a present moment.
- Counting, three, two.
- Oh, God.
[laughter]
- Good start, good start,
good start.
I've see pictures from
that week and everything,
and it's like,
it was such a deeply...
painful goodbye.
♪ ♪
- Being pulled away
from these people
was really difficult.
I loved being with them,
and we'd also gone through
something so life-changing
for all of us,
so we were bonded in this way.
- I wasn't in the last scene.
I was in one
of the early scenes,
and right after I did my scene,
I took a deep breath,
and I waited for the director
to say, "Clear, and moving on,"
and when he said, "Moving on,"
I slowly walked off the set,
went in the dressing room,
grabbed my bag, got in the car,
and drove to the airport
and flew home.
I couldn't--I couldn't do it.
- All of my hu--
I mean, 11 to 17,
it's such a huge--
you know,
you grow so much
during that time.
I did it all with them,
and when I saw
that stage empty,
it was just like--
I could barely breathe.
- It didn't come to a head
until the last scene shooting,
and we knew that
this was the last time
we were gonna hug
these people on this set.
- Leaving is like leaving
a grand, old friend.
- Having to walk off the set,
that was hard.
You know, it was like
I was out of my body,
watching myself walk all
the way out and not stopping,
and then I was out of frame,
and I was done.
- I remember that when
it was all said and done,
I couldn't stop crying.
- You okay?
- Yeah, yeah, no, no, I'm cool.
I'm cool, Uncle Phil.
You know, it's just
when I first came out here,
you know, I was a relative.
Been here for the past
six years, like,
we've been family.
I just don't wanna go back to
being just a relative again.
♪ ♪
I mean, I lived
without a father
and without brothers
and sisters and all of that.
I like this life better.
♪ ♪
- Hey, who turned
out the lights?
[laughter]
Where is everybody?
d
♪ ♪
- I am definitely
gonna miss you, C.
♪ ♪
d
♪ ♪
- We've been a part
of creating something
that has touched millions
and millions of hearts
around the world,
and on this set
I learned how to lead
my life, you know?
I figured out who I wanted
to be on this set
with all of you
making this show, so...
This was family.
- This is family.
- I love you guys so much.
You have no idea.
I think--no, you do.
[laughter]
- I think the continuing legacy
for "Fresh Prince"
will simply be that
we changed television
in a positive way
and that we will go down
in history
as one of the best
to have ever done it.
- I mean, it's--
it's become legendary.
It has become really,
really special.
- We were so fortunate.
It was like
no experience ever,
but I had it.
- We had no idea
that it was gonna be
the iconic show
that it became.
- While we were filming
this, you know,
Will tweeted out a picture,
and I saw a lot of posts
about the picture,
and a lot of people responded,
and people said,
#BlackExcellence, right?
And it made me think about
what our show meant to people
and why it's lasted
so long,
and I don't want it
to be mistaken
that the excellence part
is the wealth.
That part is the fantasy.
The excellence was the way
that we loved each other.
- You know, the--the thing
that's difficult is that,
you know, we're a family,
you know?
Of course it's a TV show,
and, you know,
we're only playing a family,
but you really develop
family-like relationships.
You know, it was such
a beautiful way
to have these memories
and to be able to say goodbye
to this show
and to this section
of our lives with dignity.
- I think we all--
you know, to an extent,
we've all gone off
and lived our lives,
but there will always be
a piece of all of us
in that living room,
and it was nice
for all of us to share it
for one more day.
♪ ♪
- Y'all ready?
Let's go, let's go!
Hit it, Snazz!
["The Fresh Prince
of Bel-Air" theme]
♪ Now this is a story
all about how ♪
♪ My life got flipped,
turned upside-down ♪
♪ So I'd like to take a minute,
just sit right there ♪
♪ I'll tell you how
I became the prince ♪
♪ Of a town
called Bel-Air ♪
- One thing that always
bugged me about the show--
nothing bugged me
about the show.
Well, I guess the one thing
that bugged me is that--
[Tom Jones'
"It's Not Unusual"]
- Uh-oh.
- Oh!
- We doing it?
- What you got?
What you got? What you got?
- When are we doing it?
- I never could do this.
I never could do this.
- You gotta start right here.
- ♪ It's not unusual
to be loved by anyone ♪
- Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!
- ♪ It's not unusual
to have fun with anyone ♪
- Now do the steps.
- ♪ But when I see you hanging
about with anyone ♪
- [singing along]
♪ It's not unusual ♪
♪ To see my cry ♪
- ♪ I wanna die ♪
- There it is
right there, y'all.
Bring it in right there.
On three.
One, two, three!
Yes!
d f
- Are we done?
- That's it.
- That's it?
- That's it.
- Oh.
- Thank you.
- See you in ten years.
[laughter]