Good Times’s Jimmy Walker Has a Q & A for his memoir called (Sigh) “Dyn-o-mite!”

Tonight, I went to a Barnes and Noble mostly to check out new books and see what might be worth reading for next month’s Book of the Month Club pick, and inadvertently stumbled upon a book signing for the autobiography of Good Times’s Jimmy “Jay Jay” Walker, a man mostly known for saying “Dy-no-mitttttte!” but also for being the first young black man to be the star of a sitcom. [So, you’re welcome Will Smith.]

The event was notable in that 1. People actually showed up. [I try to go to all the fiction book events and usually only stragglers, bums, and hobos wander in.] 2. Jimmy barely mentioned anything in the book, read no passages of it, and instead went right to a Q and A session, where the audience asked him any question they could think of for about forty minutes.

It’s clear that Walker is a born performer. The man got his start in stand-up comedy, and I feel like he downplayed the book itself, just so he could interact with a crowd, something he clearly loves doing. Like all stand ups, he thrives on the laughter and validation of an audience, and since a book signing offers all the pluses of stand-up (a slightly captive audience, a fawning crowd ready to laugh and clap) with none of the negatives (nobody really gets heckled at a book signing), why not answer a question with a 15 minute long answer?

Of course, it’s often been said that celebrities only write their memoirs when they’re no longer working. [You won’t see Brad Pitt peddling his book at Barnes and Noble anytime soon.] So, I can’t say that Walker offered up many stories that were truly entertaining or even relevant. Too often, he was just dropping the names of people who the audience may not have ever head of, something too many faded stars mistake for interesting tidbits. In fact, he really shied away from dishing much gossip or dirt about his former show, and seemed a little uncomfortable with questions about former cast-mates in particular. The most interesting things Walker touched on were…

That Jay Leno thinks only of himself and hasn’t brought up a new generation of comedians the way he could have. And that Leno should give young comics the same big break he got thirty years ago.

That Good Times wouldn’t be on the air today unless Tyler Perry had his name slapped on it, because poor black characters aren’t allowed on television, only doctors/lawyers/CEOs and a lot of other honcho jobs that may not reflect the reality of black socioeconomics in 2012.

That overly P.C. portrayals of black Americans have put a lot of black actors out of work. That back in his day, a lot of black characters were criminals and jokers (like him), and that when the black community started asking for more positive portrayals on TV, the networks just started casting white criminals and comedians…and also quit casting black actors in anything that could be viewed as offensive, which pretty much means they don’t cast them in anything with a personality…

He also added that Married with Children was supposed to star an all-black cast, but instead got switched to a white cast to avoid controversy, and that’s more or less been the case for TV shows ever since.