SINGAPORE — Everyone who grew up in the 1980s knows Lethal Weapon. The entertaining, high-octane 1987 blockbuster starring Danny Glover and Mel Gibson was such a hit, it spawned three sequels. It made stars out of its leads, and pretty much sealed the recipe for a classic buddy cop premise — two mismatched personalities forced to work together to solve crimes and become pals in the end.

Recently, the movie received a reboot — but for the small screen. Lethal Weapon, the TV series, which premiered in October to positive reviews, was praised for the chemistry between the two actors. It stars Damon Wayans as Glover’s Roger Murtaugh and Clayne Crawford as Gibson’s Martin Riggs.

Wayans (one of the four brothers who are all in showbiz) and last seen on sitcom My Wife and Kids, tells us more about the show and what he feels are his favourite moments (hint: It doesn’t really have to do with actual filming!).

Q: What is the TV version of Lethal Weapon about and how does your character fit in?

A: Lethal Weapon is a show about two cops at different points in their lives. My character, Roger Murtaugh, is a guy who just had triple bypass (surgery). He’s alive and he wants to stay that way because he has a beautiful family. He has three children and a wife, and he is very in touch with what’s important in life. He gets partnered with a guy — Martin Riggs — who loses everything, he loses his pregnant wife and the child. He just doesn’t care about anything and he’s basically using that as a superpower where he walks into dangerous situations almost hoping to be killed. My job is to keep him from killing himself and not getting killed.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about the chemistry between the two leads? What makes Riggs and Murtaugh a great team?

A: Well, what’s interesting about the way Riggs and Murtaugh work together is that they have differences of opinion but they meet in the middle in order to solve crimes. As soon as it’s about the case, about getting things solved and saving people’s lives, they’re in sync. I think the audience wants to see them work on a personal level, but they are just miles apart in terms of what they think and feel about life at this point. That makes it great for conflict.

Q: What was the first meeting between you and Clayne Crawford like? Was it love at first sight?

A: When Clayne and I first met, we got into a fist fight. We fought for about an hour and a half, and it was in a restaurant and we just totally destroyed the restaurant. At the end, we sat there and ate eggs together. We just laughed and said, “You know what? I like the way you beat me up. We should work together.”

Q: Do you have any favourite moment or a scene you enjoyed doing so far?

A: My favourite moment is when I had two days off in a row. That was just, wonderful. I mean, we do so many explosions and fights and falling down, it’s a blur. But a beautiful blur.

Q: What about other funny moments, say, from filming?

A: I tend to get the giggles and sometimes, you get giddy when you’re working long hours and some stuff that comes up is really funny, but I’m too silly at that point to commit to it and a lot of times, we don’t get it on camera when we’re breaking into laughter. I wish there is an app that helps you not laugh when you really shouldn’t laugh.

Q: Prior to securing this role, were you already a fan of the movie and the franchise?

A: I never saw any of the Lethal Weapon movies. I was more into silent movies. I was like, “What is that, is that like a little tool?” I’m thinking it was something you get from Home Depot. Someone gave me a copy of VHS and I didn’t have a VHS player but I saw Danny Glover’s moustache and then I knew what this was about.

Q: Do you face any challenges filming this series?

A: There are challenges because I am 56 years old. And it gets hard to get up in the morning sometimes. But I know that I am doing incredible work with an incredible group of people. Right now, I am hurting. My lower back feels like I got kicked and I did — by a horse. We did this scene where I had to fight a horse. And I won. But the horse kicked me in my back because it didn’t like how I cheated when I hit it! TRANSCRIPT COURTESY OF WARNER TV

Lethal Weapon is showing on Warner TV (Starhub TV Ch 515 & SingTel TV Ch 306), Thursdays at 9.50pm.