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American actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner recently opened up about playing his breakthrough role on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. The 54-year-old actor, on May 21, 2025, appeared on the Hot & Bothered podcast with Melyssa Ford and revealed how he found his character Theo in the show to be "corny."
Malcolm-Jamal Warner played Theodore Aloysius "Theo" Huxtable in the American sitcom The Cosby Show in a total of eight seasons, which aired from 1984 to 1992. He was the middle child of the five children of Dr. Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable and Clair Hanks-Huxtable and was diagnosed with dyslexia in the series.
On May 23, 2025, X account The Art of Dialogue shared a clip from Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s appearance on the Hot & Bothered podcast with Melyssa Ford with the caption:
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The actor opened up about why he felt his character on the NBC sitcom was corny. Talking to Melyssa Ford, Warner revealed that he focused on the “negative.”
“This is what happens when you put too much attention on the negative than the positive. And what I say that to mean, everyone loved Theo… But I was f*cking with the people who were like Theo's corny.”
Malcolm-Jamal Warner discusses playing Theo in The Cosby Show
The 54-year-old actor, during his appearance on the Hot & Bothered podcast with Melyssa Ford, revealed how his wife made him “rethink” that Theo was a good character.
“She got on me not too long ago about, there's a thing she's like, ‘You keep trying to distance yourself from Theo, as if Theo was a bad thing’... so she really made me rethink.”
The actor revealed he always wanted his character of Theodore Huxtable to be "separate" from his name.
“I've always wanted it to be separate. And, there tends to be this narrative that I hate being called… well no, I don't like being called Theo. So it's not a narrative.”
When Melyssa Ford asked him if fans still ask him to sign autographs as his character Theo and whether this bothers him, he added:
“I'm going to be Malcolm much longer than I'm going to be Theo. Although for some people, I'll be Theo forever, and they can't help that.”
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, however, added he now tries to be "mindful" of the misinterpretation that he doesn't like his The Cosby Show character Theo. The actor also opened up about how Theo was "very good" to him. Warner also admitted that he now thinks that the show and his role are "timeless" and that he is "very proud of that role."
Meanwhile, Warner also recalled a hurtful comment he received for playing Theo when he was just 15 years old. He opened up to Melyssa:
“You know, somebody called me ‘America's favorite white black boy’. And I was like 15… And like dude said that and it hurt me… And unfortunately, people will see that. That's the trauma. That's cultural trauma.”
Notably, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, during his podcast appearance, also recalled how his character Theo was “loved” by people. The actor reportedly started portraying the character at the young age of 14 and also got an Emmy nomination for the same in 1986.
