Anthony Anderson and Mama Doris Are One the Funniest Pairings on TV
Updated July 5 2023, 2:03 p.m. ET
Black-ish actor Anthony Anderson and his mother, Doris Bowman (née Hancox) — aka Mama Doris — are the ultimate dynamic duo.
Maybe you've seen them on ABC's To Tell the Truth or E!'s Trippin’ With Anthony Anderson and Mama Doris. Or perhaps you're familiar with their series of T-Mobile commercials, or their Discovery Plus prank show House Haunters.
However way you know them, you know that you can expect a good time when these two share the screen.
Anthony Anderson and his mother, Doris Bowman aka Mama Doris, first made waves together on 'Celebrity Family Feud.'
After their memorable 2015 appearance on an episode of Celebrity Family Feud — in which Mama Doris went viral for one of her answers (see the clip below!) — ABC producers approached Anthony about having his mom co-host his upcoming gig on To Tell the Truth.
Anthony explained to ABC News that at the end of the Celebrity Family Feud taping, "the producers came over to me and said, 'Anthony, can we talk to you about your mother?' and I immediately went into apologetic mode. I was like, 'I am so sorry! I should’ve known that my mother was going to be a little risque,' and they were like, 'We love that, and we want to talk to you about bringing your mother onto 'To Tell the Truth' with you.'"
He added: "They’re like, 'Do you have a problem with that?' I was like, 'No, not at all. That’s one less check I’ll have to write every month.'"
Mama Doris became co-host (and hilarious commentator) on 'To Tell the Truth' alongside Anthony Anderson when the show rebooted in 2016.
To Tell the Truth consists of a celebrity panel who are presented with three contestants who are acting the part of the same person — but only one of them isn't acting. The panelist must figure out who that is and who are impostors. And every wrong answer by a panelist is money earned.
The show goes all the way back to 1956. And in 2016, after Anthony became the host with Mama Doris as his sidekick, they went on to make their mark on the series and are part of the reasons why viewers keep coming back to watch it. They're literally the dynamic duo of the show.
In fact, when Mama Doris missed a couple of episodes in early 2021, fans took to social media to demand answers, with one viewer saying "it's only half the show without Mama."
Thankfully, Mama returned soon after, telling fans on social media, "I'm back this week on the Queen's Throne and the laughs won't stop!"
'Trippin' With Anthony Anderson and Mama Doris' in 2023 was a way for Anthony to thank his mom for everything.
In June 2023, Trippin' With Anthony Anderson and Mama Doris premiered on E!, featuring the hilarious mother-and-son duo taking Europe by storm.
The two traveled for six weeks around Italy, France, and England on a humorous and heartwarming journey that was a way for Anthony to "say thank you for all she’s sacrificed and done for me,” he said on the show.
In an interview that the pair gave to TV Insider ahead of the show's premiere, Anthony explained, "The production company explained what the show was, and I was like, 'Mama, you want to take a European vacation?' And she was like, 'Hell, yeah!' Then I said, 'Mama, would you like to get paid?' And she was like, 'Hell, yeah yeah!'”
"I’m gonna get a check!" Mama Doris added.
As for their favorite spots? Anthony loved Venice, though Mama Doris interjected by saying she'd "never go back there."
Her son replied with a laugh, "The way you keep talking about Venice, they won’t even let you back into the country!"