A big vote for the BET award show

Remember Kanye West’s infamous line about President Bush and black people? Damon Wayans has a similar take on another constituency.

“Black people don’t care about the Grammys,” the comic and actor said. “Not at all. We really don’t watch the Grammys.”

Uh, seriously? “Yes, I am serious. For us, we don’t really care if Garth Brooks or whoever wins for cowboy of the year and all that. The show is boring.”

That strong view may be in part because Wayans is the host Tuesday night of this year’s edition of the BET Awards, which also features a performance by Beyonce, career honors for Harry Belafonte and Chaka Khan and a big finale by Prince. Jamie Foxx could be a big winner with nominations as an actor and singer.

“There are a lot of awards shows around, but not too many ‘black people’ awards shows,” Wayans said. “And the BET Awards are more of a party than an awards show anyway. It’s a good time.”

The funnyman said his job at this particular party is to keep things moving at a nice clip, add laughs when things drag a bit and generally keep out of the way when everything is humming along.

The gig comes at a busy time for Wayans. He has “The Underground,” a new Showtime series that launches Sept. 14 and can be described as a sketch comedy that doesn’t blush. “It’s ‘Living Color’ on steroids: The jokes go all the way, they don’t hold back.” As an example he cited a “Vagina Monologues” spoof that gives a more literal version of the stage show’s title.

Despite his good feeling about the BET Awards, Wayans said the channel itself is in a less certain place. He said BET should be more of a force. “It should be NBC by now,” he said.

Asked about criticism that the channel is defined by hip-hop music video raunch instead of more ambitious programming aspirations, he said: “It’s a forum and could be a bigger and different one than it is.”

Is there any category Wayans would add to the BET Awards and, if so, who would win it Tuesday night? “Stand-up, they should have an award for stand-up. And Dave Chappelle would win it this year, hands down.”

-- Geoff Boucher