Posted by Emily Exton on 05/19/2012 at 6:24 PM Videos

The Popdust Files: gary barlow, interviews, television, the fresh prince of bel-air, will smith

Will Smith does not enjoy being kissed by foreigners on the red carpet, but he’s more than happy to sing with them. During additional press for Men in Black III, Smith regaled the cast and audience of The Graham Norton Show with stories from his ’90s television series, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The most notable tidbit involved advice from former costar Alfonso Ribeiro (who played his cousin, Carlton Banks) to always name the character you play after yourself, to avoid future embarrassment. Funny, we used to say the same thing about screen names after realizing that DJGirl2031 doesn’t age as well as we thought it would in sixth grade.

More iconic than Carlton’s Tom Jones appreciation and choreography was the show’s opening number, a few seconds of exposition that take our hero from the basketball courts of West Philly to the McMansions of Bel-Air. Thanks to rampant syndication, you’ll be pressed to find someone who can’t recite at least part of the song, or a bar in Murray Hill that won’t keep from adding it to its weekend playlist. We’re assuming Smith gets these impromptu requests during parent teacher conferences at in line at his local Starbucks, but Norton still felt it imperative to let him know that everyone on our fair planet knows the words—even Take That’s Gary Barlow! Enter the conveniently placed keyboard and odd couple jokes. Smith looked surprisingly jolly while rapping along to his signature intro, giving audience members the moment they’ve likely always been waiting for, capable of being trumped only by an opportunity to dance in the Central Park fountain. A great week in ’90s nostalgia continues.

[Vulture]