~ COVER STORY Cedric the Entertainer rings in the new year with a new job in 'Code Name: The Cleaner' BY MICHAEL GILTZ on't look for Cedric the Entertainer to be working a room this New Year's Eve. "I stopped working on New Year's Eve about three years ago," says the man born Cedric Kyles but known to all as Cedric the Entertainer.</p><p> One of the original Kings of Comedy, Cedric performed in Reno last night, then headed back home to Los Angeles to ring in 2007 "Vith family and friends, That's a lot more fun than working a crowd desper ate for a great time, he says. "My toughest New Year's Eve gig was probably in Oakland ," says the 42-year·old comedian and actor, currently heard in the family film "Charlotte's Web" as the voice of Golly the Gander, husband of Gussy the Goose (voiced by Oprah Wtnfrey) . "Oakland can be a tough crowd any way.</p><p> But the show never really got off the ground and the crowd really got upset.</p><p> By the time I hit the stage, I probably did about 15 or 20 minutes when they had to do the countdown .</p><p> And they were rowdy and drinking.</p><p> The promoters were arguing with the fans, and people were trying to get paid.</p><p> It was a bad scene' "The promoters always have these gran diose ideas.</p><p> Then they run out of Cristal early on after charging people $1,000." So, working New Year's Eve as a comic can be lough, though not as tough as being a janitor.</p><p> That's the job Cedric's charac· ter has in the action-comedy "Code Name: The Cleaner," opening Friday.</p><p> In it, Ced ric's arrtnesiac Jake wakes up in a hotel room next to a dead body and tries to fig ure out whether he's a custodian or a spy (while avoiding getting killed).</p><p> Lucy Uu is along for the ride as a federal agent he wouldn't mind uncoveJing for clues "At least when you're a janitor you're on your own late at night and you can whistle at your work," says Cedlic, whose cool delivery and big presence stole the show in Spike Lee's "The Original Kings of Comedy," "Barbershop" and "Barber shop 2: Back in Business," and helped make "Intolerable Cruelty" and "Johnson Family Vacation" more fun, Before "Charlotte's Web," he also lent his deep tones to "Dr.</p><p> Dolit- tle 2," "Ice Age" and "Madaga scar" (a sequel to the latter is in the works) His own worst job? Well, though he also once had a gig in insurance , that hon or would be working at a factory where he had to put the glue on Pampers dia- pers.</p><p> Cedric worked at night and had to make sure one machine was always filled with glue; if it ran out, the whole system ground to a halt. "It was a graveyard shift," he re members . "I was young And they had these huge boxes the glue came in and 1 climbed into one of the boxes and went to sleep, The supervisor woke me up and the red light was on and the machine was stopped.</p><p> Dude looked at me; he didn't even have to say nothing 'Do I get a check? Do I gel paid for the day? I know I'm fired:" Now it's Cedric who is turning down work -especially on New Year's Eve.</p><p> And why nor> He has already had the best experience he could ever have working thai night. "Oh man,l was 15 or 16 years old," he recalls. "1 used to have a friend who was a deejay, and he would deejay for these J ich girls.</p><p> I would go with him.</p><p> I didn't deejay, but I would carry the crates and hold the cords so 1 could hang out and just be a part of the party.</p><p> IEveryone] would drink, and this girl I was infat uated with kissed me. 1 was totally out of my class! It was strictly a New Year's Eve kiss -no tongue, nothing like that. "But the way I was able to ma nipulate that with my boys for the next eight years? I put a little extra on it: 'You know I kissed her! We was tongu ing for a looong time, like three minutes: Yeah, buddy'" •
