Alfonso Ribeiro Reveals Where The 'Carlton Dance' Came From
(CBS Sacramento) - Alfonso Ribeiro recently won "Dancing With the Stars" and will take over as host of "America's Funniest Home Videos." He sat down with Variety to talk about growing up in the Bronx, preparing for the role of Carlton on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and where his famous dance came from.
Ribeiro revealed that on set they had DJ's, stand-up comics and that they would all hangout in Will Smith's dressing room before taping.
He told Variety, "I played a character that was as far from myself as possible. They would have to bring me a CD and some articles for me to read up on what the character liked, because I had never heard of Tom Jones. I didn't know Barry Manilow. These weren't people that I grew up with or experienced as a teenager. I grew up in the Bronx; I was a hip-hop kid."
His famous "Carlton Dance" "was never even intended to be funny," he said.
Ribeiro revealed that the dance is based from Courtney Cox in the Bruce Springsteen video "Dancing in the Dark," mixed with Eddie Murphy's "Delirious" video of what he called "The White Man Dance."
Ribeiro said, "That is the corniest dance on the planet that I know of, so why don't I do that?"
