Damon Wayans Jr. Teases ‘New Girl’ Callbacks in Lamorne Morris Episode

It’s time for a classic Coach and Winston mess around. Poppa’s House is staging a New Girl reunion for Damon Wayans Jr. and Lamorne Morris in an episode set to air in February 2025. The episode will also feature an In Living Color reunion for Damon Wayans and Tommy Davidson.

Following the Poppa’s House series premiere on Monday, October 21, Wayans opened up to TV Insider about what to expect when Morris guest stars on the new sitcom. He says that while the new characters are different, Coach and Winston’s dynamic will naturally come out.

As previously announced, Morris will play Todd in a February episode of Poppa’s House. Todd is a friend from Junior’s (Wayans Jr.) film school who tries to convince Junior to come back to filmmaking. As established in the series premiere, Junior is a brilliant dreamer who’s struggling to get his directing career off the ground. If Todd is trying to get him back into the industry, that might mean that Junior gives up on his dream at some point in Season 1. Wayans sings the praises of his New Girl pal, revealing that the episode has already been filmed.

“Fire and ice! A little fire and ice. Warm water, baby!” Wayans says, referencing the iconic New Girl Prince episode with a big grin. “Lamorne’s character in this episode is very different from his Winston character. And obviously Junior’s way different than Coach, but because we’re still buddies, it just bleeds onto the screen.”

The Happy Endings alum says that Morris stunned Wayans Sr. and the rest of the cast and crew with his comedic talents during filming. Wayans admits to feeling vindicated when Morris performed as well as he told everyone he would.

“He came in there and he kicked ass,” Wayans reveals. “This dude just came in and just blew everybody’s socks off. And my dad was just so taken aback like, wow, this guy really brought it. I was like, ‘I told you, Dad! I’m not going to bring any losers on our show!’ I’m not going to do any friend favors. I knew he was going to come in and rock it, and he did.”

Wayans shared details about Davidson’s performance as well. The In Living Color alum plays a character named Jarnold and shares most of his scenes with Wayans Sr. Jarnold and Poppa know each other from work. They’ve ridden in the elevator together for years but don’t really know each other outside of their great elevator rapport that involves teasing their coworkers.