In 1993, a cast of actors came together with hopes that their television sitcom would be a hit. It carried on for five seasons and now 27 years later, it’s a beloved series that is a favorite among multiple generations. Living Single starred Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, Erika Alexander, and Kim Fields as 20-somethings navigating their careers and love lives in the big city. Of course, we can’t forget about their neighbors, portrayed by John Henton and T.C. Carson, who added to the comedic relief.

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In a recent interview with Comedy Hype, T.C. Carson spoke candidly about his character, Kyle Barker, and his days on Living Single. He shared insight at what led to his departure, stating that he was fired from the show. Carson claimed that early on, executives wanted to portray his and Henton’s characters as the bumbling fools who lived upstairs. He wasn’t comfortable about that and spoke up, and to his surprise, changes were implemented.

However, Carson’s character made an exit from the last season. “There were times when we had issues on that show,” he said. “And we would come to them as a cast, but I would be the spokesperson for it. And so, that last season before I left, they called me in and they basically said all these problems we’ve been having, they’ve listened to you. You’re the person they listen to so if you said something else, then they would do that.” He refuted that he was standing alone and that all of the concerns were collectively given from the cast as a whole. Carson added that sometimes he felt as if they were treated as if they should just keep their mouths shut and be happy that as Black actors, they had jobs.

Later he saw that his character was being sent off to London at the end of the season, so Carson just asked executives if he was being fired from the show. He was told no, but immediately after the season’s finale aired, his phone rang with the news that he’d been cut. “It wasn’t that I got fired, it was the way it was done… We were getting less than. We were getting less than all around. Then, they created Friends and gave them everything.” Check out the interview below.

His career catapulted into stardom as one of the key cast members of In Living Color, but all that glitters isn’t gold. His funny characters are now apart of television history, but while he was making America laugh every week, Tommy Davidson was struggling with a serious addiction. The actor has been on a press tour recently in support of his newly released memoir Living in Color, and in a chat with Comedy Hype, Davidson discussed leaving his hit show to go to rehab.

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“I don’t make no excuses for nothing,” the comedian said. “It was just I had a problem, man. And it took me out, and if it wasn’t for me having good people around me, I’d be where Elvis [Presly] is, John Belushi is, [Chris] Farley. I’m grateful. I don’t even trip. It got to that point where I had to do something and life circumstances would come along… and you’ll throw caution to the wind to warnings. I seen the warnings all around my neighborhood. I seen addicts all my life. I seen people with alcohol problems all my life. All my life. And people would sit me down and say don’t you do that, and it wasn’t a conscious decision. It was just one of them things where there was a lot of opportunities available to me and I was in an emotional space where I was dependent on those things to help me deal with the present reality.”

He admitted that Keenan Ivory Wayans, the creator of In Living Color, along with others pulled him to the side to urge him to get help. After he left for a time Davidson did return to the show, but the cast had made a few changes while he was gone. He said “there was a lack of quality to the show” at that point and that he missed the friendship he’d formed. Check out his clip in full below.