Cedric: Many Hats, Many Laughs

He acts, sings, dances and tells jokes so well that it's not surprising that he's known as Cedric 'The Entertainer' Kyles.

In the movie "Intolerable Cruelty," the versatile performer stars alongside George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Gus Petch, a private detective who specializes in catching adulterers.

Petch, explains writer-director Ethan Coen (his brother Joel is his collaborator) "is a private investigator who specializes in matrimonial cases. He basically catches people cheating on their spouses. And somehow, only Cedric could have played it."

Cedric tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, "The Coens are known for having quirky characters in their movies. This was a combination of people. I didn't have anybody in particular. I just kind of thought about it if I was a police detective or ex-military man, how serious I would be about my job, no matter what it was. So I kind of took that on as characteristic and that was the fun part about the comedy in this movie."

Cedric says it was so much fun to work in the film, he actually got a chance to extend his role. He says, "I actually was able to steal and give a lot more scenes than what was written so we had a lot of fun doing it and my role got increased a little bit as we were going along, so it was fun."

Exciting for him too was working with Catherine Zeta-Jones. He says, "She is extremely beautiful and that's inside and out. She's really nice and calm on the set and I was expecting her to have big hoop earrings on or something. You know, every time I say it, 'What you know?'"

As for George Clooney Cedric notes, "George is super cool. I don't even know how somebody can be that cool."

Cedric has a number of other projects coming up, a movie called "Johnson Family Vacation" in which he costars with Steve Harvey and which he is co-producing.

He just finished filming "Barbershop 2." Taking about his role in that movie, he says, "It is going to be a lot of fun. Eddie's character definitely jumps out a lot more in the second movie."

Next for him is teaming up with Mike Epps for the remake of "The Honeymooners," which Cedric says he is excited about.

He says, "I'm Ralph and he's going to be Ed and it's nice. We're looking to having fun with that and bringing it, you know, a modern spin on it." About the script, he says, "We are working it up to make it a little more to our personalities, but it is that great story of everyday man who wants to make good for his wife and family and, of course, everything goes wrong."

And that is not all, Cedric is in "Joe's Last Chance," starring John Travolta, and "Flash," a comedy in which he is a coach leading a group of athletes both on and off the playing field.

The 5-6, 39-year old Cedric was born in Missouri and attended Southeast Missouri State University. Before he made it in comedy, Cedric Kyles was a claims adjuster for State Farm Insurance. He has been married for four years to Lorna Wells and has a son with her, and a 14-year old daughter from a previous relationship.

The versatile Cedric is indeed involved in all forms of entertainment. He has done:

• Television - his own variety show last year on Fox, the "Steve Harvey" show
• Movies "Big Momma's House," "Serving Sara," "Barbershop"
• Commercials: Bud Light and McDonald's; voice work: "Ice Age," "Dr. Doolittle," "The Proud Family"
• Music: on Nelly's albums: "Country Grammar" and "Nellyville"
• Emcee: hosted the NAACP image Awards
• Books: wrote "Grown Ass Man," published in 2002.