Chi McBride talks about new season of hit show, Chicago’s violence

Picture a private investigator using a pie maker who has special powers-to raise the dead with a single touch-to help solve murder cases. Sound off-the-wall? Well to Chi McBride, it does and it doesn’t. The Chicago native, born Kenneth McBride, said

Picture a private investigator using a pie maker who has special powers to raise the dead with a single touch and help solve murder cases.

Sound off-the-wall?

Well to Chi McBride, it does and it doesn’t.

The Chicago native, born Kenneth McBride, said it’s been a while since he had a comedic role, and when the TV show “Pushing Daisies” was presented to him, he knew it was a good fit.

McBride plays Emerson Cod, the private investigator, on the Emmy-nominated ABC show.

“I hadn’t found anything that was interesting, especially for Black characters. This was something that was very different. I wanted to do something a little lighter, and this was it,” McBride told the Defender about his character and the show that starts its second season Oct. 1.

The former West Side resident and die-hard White Sox fan, whose stage name “Chi” is shortened for Chicago, said he doesn’t get to come back home often because of his work load but has kept up occasionally with the violence that has gripped the city.

“I just don’t understand the senseless nature of this whole stupid a…code-of-the-street thing. It’s the dumbest thing ever. It’s not like when you grew up watching cartoons and Wile E. Coyote ran off the cliff and got back up. Death is final. You take away people’s children, fathers and mothers,” a disgusted McBride said.

As he grew up in the city, peer pressure weighed on him, but he knew better and wanted better for himself. Others can do the same. A troubled childhood or being around violence frequently is no excuse for making the wrong choice, he said.

“I grew up on the West Side of Chicago with two parents from the Caribbean, neither of which went past the fifth grade, and I’m here. I had the exact same presented to me in terms of opportunities to get involved in a life of crime. Violence is a choice,” McBride said. McBride said those committing violence, or on the brink of doing so, must possess the courage to walk away and onto a positive path.

“I don’t see where there really needs to be this light bulb moment. It’s really simple. Do you want to throw your life away or end up dead at a young age, or do you want to take advantage of the fact that if you pursue a different path and believe that you are smart enough and worthy enough, you can get out of it? All they have to do is have the courage to change their way of thinking. There is no retirement plan for gangsterdom,” he said.

McBride feels his message will make little difference but hopes others who are out in the trenches everyday with at-risk youth are spreading a similar message.

“In reality, the people who need to be reached aren’t reading the newspapers. So, my words will fall on deaf ears,” he said.

Prior to his role in "Pushing Daisies," McBride appeared in television shows such as "Boston Public," "House" and "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfieffer," and in several movies including "Roll Bounce," "Hoodlum," "Undercover Brother," "I, Robot" and "Mercury Rising."