Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr hit it off right away in the sleeper hit comedy Let’s Be Cops

A BRIEF TV encounter was enough to convince Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr they could be funny together on the big screen - and sleeper hit Let’s Be Cops has proved them right

JAKE Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr didn’t have long to bond — after shooting the pilot episode of sitcom New Girl together, Wayans bowed out to do cult series Happy Endings instead.

Yet Johnson had seen enough to know the pair had comedic chemistry.

“It’s random. But when you feel it you know it,” says Johnson. “Damon went off and did Happy Endings for a couple of seasons, then when this movie came around we said we’d do it if we could do it together.”

This movie is Let’s Be Cops, a buddy comedy about two 30-something guys at a life crossroads who, after dressing as policemen for a costume party, get hooked on the respect the uniforms command. Soon they’re buying a cop car off eBay and responding to real emergency calls.

The surprise hit of the US summer, it grossed $96 million off a $20 million budget. That, says Wayans, means, “I’m getting a lot cooler meetings lately”. Not that he needs a job. He is now a back on New Girl full-time as loudmouth roommate Coach.

Did Johnson pull some strings to get his mate the job?

“That’s right, or at least I asked,” he laughs. “Everyone is such a big fan of Damon, it wasn’t hard to convince anybody.”

The duo put their chemistry to good use in Let’s Be Cops, improvising much of the fun. There was no real research required to play guys pretending to be cops, either.

“The worse we were at being cops the better,” Wayans laughs.

But they did go on a ride along with two LAPD officers.

“It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever experienced,” says Wayans. “There’s a ghetto inside the ghetto in Los Angeles — we went there. We drove right through a gang party in this park; parked in the middle of it. I was like, ‘Why are we pissing all these gangbangers off? There’s only two of you guys!’ ”

Well, it was the scariest thing Wayans had experienced, until he filmed a scene in which the wannabe cops respond to a break-in at a hardware store, putting him face to nether-regions with a giant naked guy.

“His name was America. He was very nice, but he was not apologetic. He was determined to mush those little things in my face and I was determined to keep them away from my face. So it was a struggle.”

Adds Johnson: “I’m really glad Damon did it because it’s a really funny scene, but it was crazy to witness. Me and Rob Riggle were there egging the guy on. To watch your friend go through that was a once in a lifetime experience.”

While Wayans freaked out, Johnson geeked out at the prospect of acting with the veteran who puts the real danger into Let’s Be Cops: Andy Garcia.

“After meeting somebody you have a good hour before you shoot with them, so I geeked out in that hour,” he says.

Wayans didn’t have any on-screen time with Garcia, but had a moment nonetheless.

“I got to meet him in the trailer. He smelt like cigars. And he told me to tell my Dad he says ‘Hey’. Like most every famous guy that’s really good at stuff, they always know my Dad and they go, ‘Oh you’re his sperm. Tell your Dad I said hi’.”

Wayans’ father, Damon Sr, broke out with Jim Carrey in 1990s sketch series In Living Colour and starred alongside Bruce Willis in The Last Boy Scout. Members of the extended Wayans clan have also brought us everything from the Scream franchise to White Chicks.

Wayans Jr is quite OK with being known to famous guys as Dad’s offspring: “He was a great Dad to me. Very supportive. My whole family — we’re a giant unit.”

Wayans plans to carry on the family tradition by doing “everything: producing, directing, acting”.

He’s currently creating a cartoon series and will be heard this Boxing Day as the voice of a neatnik, safety-conscious superhero in Disney animation Big Hero 6.

Meanwhile, Johnson already has several writing and producing credits to his name (“Nowadays everybody can do everything, so if you can’t, you’re left out,” he says) and will be seen next June in blockbuster sequel Jurassic World.

“It was a massive ordeal and I’m excited to see it,” he says. “But I’m just the control-room guy, so I don’t actually battle dinosaurs.”

SEE: LET’S BE COPS OPENS THURSDAY

Originally published as Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr hit it off right away in the sleeper hit comedy Let’s Be Cops