Comedian Nick Cannon talks about wife Mariah Carey, Eminem feud

Comedian Nick Cannon is filming a stand-up special Saturday at the Palms -- and his pregnant wife Mariah Carey helped him come up with jokes about her.

Cannon insists Mariah gives him "full support" when he delivers punch lines about their wedded bliss, on one condition.

"As long as she's in on it, and not the butt of it, we're good," Cannon says and laughs.

"She actually helped me come up with a lot of material so," he says, sounding like a relieved husband, "I'm scot-free."

Carey is due to give birth to twins soon.

"Now it won't look weird when I'm at Chuck E. Cheese," Cannon jokes. "Before, it was like, 'Why is he here?' "

Cannon is not taking parenthood lightly. He feels like he's on an incredible journey.

"Recently, we've been going nursery shopping and getting all of these books and advice from everybody," Cannon says.

"It's overwhelming in a sense. But I feel like I'm prepared and ready for it all."

THE EMINEM FEUD

Just as Cannon is tight-lipped about Carey jokes, he's also keeping mum about his feud with Eminem, until he hits the stage on Saturday night.

Two years ago, Eminem claimed in rap lyrics that long ago he had sex with Carey.

"Mariah, whatever happened to us?" Eminem blustered. "Why did we ever have to break up?"

In the same song, Eminem threatened Cannon to "back ... up," calling the comedian a punk and Carey a "whore."

I don't know Carey, but I feel pretty confident she is not a hooker, or even hooker-light.

In his role as protective husband, Cannon blogged that Eminem was obsessed with Carey, saying she didn't let Eminem get to "second base" when they knew each other a decade ago.

Cannon, who boxes three or four days a week, called Eminem "sir" and challenged him to a man-to-man fight, without bodyguards protecting little Eminem, who never took Cannon up on his offer.

Instead, Eminem told BBC Radio in 2009 that he "kinda spazzed out on that record," that he never expected Cannon to "start wildin' out on me," and that the song was "a little harsh."

"What I actually meant to say is: I wish them the best," Eminem told the BBC. "That's the whole message of the record."

Spoken like a man who didn't want a beat down.

Anyway, Eminem will be Cannon fodder at Nick's comedy show. Cannon just won't give us a preview.

"I'm addressing all of that in the show. You gotta come see it. You're gonna hear it from the horse's mouth directly," he says and laughs. "I don't want to give anything away."

Side note: Eminem bores me more than any living rapper. In a 2002 review, I graded his concert at Thomas & Mack an "F," because he was terrible onstage, not rapping half the lyrics to songs, and poorly at that, confusing many deflated fans in attendance.

So I told Cannon about a scumbag thing Eminem did at that show: He tossed a blowup sex doll into the crowd and instructed them to tear it apart because it represented his wife/ex-wife, Kim. Fans followed his orders.

"That's brutal right there!" Cannon responds.

But Cannon throws Eminem a bone by suggesting he's no worse in concert than a lot of rappers:

"Someone can put together such an outstanding album, and you go to see them, and they're just kind of standing there, looking at you. It is kind of disappointing."

Why is Cannon being somewhat deferential about Eminem in this interview?

"At the end of the day, everybody's human beings. As long as we respect each other, we can all have a good time," he says.

SAMMY DAVIS JR. JR.

Besides, he's got Vegas on his mind.

For one thing, he DJs at clubs here from time to time. He used to love spinning at Prive, but the club was shut down when it faced sex and drug allegations. He will DJ again here soon enough, he says.

"Everybody else might go to clubs (in other cities) just to meet people or to mingle. People in Vegas come to leave it all on the floor. I love that."

For another thing, he's got some married-to-Mariah jokes to tell at the Palms. He's also recording the show for an upcoming comedy album.

Cannon picked Vegas as the location for his first special because he's a fan of the Rat Pack, "the showmen of yesteryear" as Cannon calls them.

"I consider myself someone who is the next generation's Sammy Davis Jr.," he says. "What better place to do it than Las Vegas?"

That would make him Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.

Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. E-mail him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.