“When I found out that Kadeem Hardison was going to be in a new sitcom I couldn’t wait to check it out. I was a huge fan of his when he played Dwayne Wayne on the hit show “A Different World.” I thought he was hilarious. Now fast forward to the present Kadeem has teamed up with a fantastic new cast in the Disney hit show called “K.C. Undercover.”

The series follows K.C. Cooper (Zendaya), a high school math genius who gets recruited by her parents (Hardison and Tammy Townsend) after she discovers that they are actually undercover spies. Each episode centers on the family as they contend with everyday familial issues – while also performing missions to save the country. If you haven’t checked out the show make sure you check it out on Sunday nights at 8:30 PM.

Above is a preview of next week’s episode called “Daddy’s Little Princess” that premieres Sunday, March 29 (8:30 PM, ET/PT) on Disney Channel.The Coopers are assigned to protect Prince Promomomo and must hide the teenage leader in their home for a few days. But when K.C. and the Prince become smitten with each other, Craig quickly puts his spy duties aside to remind the Prince that as K.C.’s father, he is the king.

“K.C. Undercover” Sneak Peek at this weekend’s special episode “Daddy’s Little Princess.”  This episode  of “K.C. Undercover” will air Sunday, March 29 (8:30 pm, ET/PT) as part of Disney Channel’s “Tune In 4 What?!?” programming event featuring four days and eight new episodes of Disney Channel’s hit series. For the full “Tune In 4 What?!” schedule, visit http://disneychannel.disney.com

I had the great pleasure of talking with Kadeem about “K.C. Undercover,” acting, comic books, and fatherhood.

Art Eddy: Love the show “K.C. Undercover.” It has a great cast you guys have a great chemistry. For those who don’t know about the show tell them about your role and the show.

Kadeem Hardison: The show is called “K.C. Undercover.” It is about a family of five. Our daughter is a 16 year old girl, who is a black belt and math whiz. All her life we have groomed her for something that she doesn’t know about. In the pilot episode she finds out that we are accountants by day and spies by night. We recruit her into our family business.

PHOTO CREDIT: ©PHOTOGRAPHER/DISNEY CHANNEL

PHOTO CREDIT: ©PHOTOGRAPHER/DISNEY CHANNEL

From there it takes on a life of its own of her trying to be a high school kid and being a government spy. We try to manage our family and be spies and go on missions. We are saving the world week after week. It is a lot of fun. I play Craig Cooper, her dad. I am the father of the family, who is basically a big kid. He hasn’t grown up entirely yet. He likes to have a lot of fun.

AE: To make sure you guys look like a family on screen what did you and the rest of the cast do to build up that relationship?

KH: Building up the relationship and chemistry was really easy. The three of us, Tammy Townsend, who plays Kira my wife; Kamil McFadden, who plays Ernie, my son and I all auditioned together. So that chemistry was kind of formed sitting outside running lines getting ready for the test. Chemistry is a funny thing to me. It is when you are good and I am good then we got chemistry.

You know how to do your job. I know how to do my job. Bam, we got chemistry. Once the three of us went in and met with Zendaya it all felt really good instantly. We were the first group that they took in. Myself, Tammy, and Kamil went in and met Zendaya. We read the lines over a few times. I felt like they are going to blow this if they don’t cast us. I never feel like that. I sometimes come out of auditions and be like oh that was crap. For this one though I came out and felt like that it was a family. Tammy felt like a wife. Kamil felt like a son. Zendaya felt like a daughter. It kind of worked itself out that way.

AE: Do you and the rest of the cast get to talk with the writers and give input on the story arcs and is there any room for improving your lines?

KH: Not yet. When the writing is good I leave it alone. (Both laugh.) When I feel like I have something better I go with that. Part of the job is being able to interpret words and put your spin on it. So I can say their words in a way that makes it work. Sometimes stuff doesn’t work and they rewrite it. We work stuff out on stage. When we do a run through, they would be like that didn’t work. Let’s do something else.

A lot of times that does happen. Back in the “A Different World” days it was completely different. They would open up the floor to you at the table read and ask for input. We would all throw in our stuff there. In the first year of “A Different World” before we had that open door policy I would just save all my funny stuff for when the audience showed up. (Both laugh.) I would do it as it was written all week. Then when the audience came in I would load up my gun with my bullets in. I would fire this one. Bang. Bang. Bang. They would see it working. They would be like oh snap, don’t mess with him it is working.

PHOTO CREDIT: ©PHOTOGRAPHER/DISNEY CHANNEL

PHOTO CREDIT: ©PHOTOGRAPHER/DISNEY CHANNEL

AE: What traits does the dad, Craig Cooper that you play on “K.C. Undercover” get from you who is a dad in real life?

KH: Craig and I are similar in the way that we are both like big kids and refuse to fully grow up. (Both laugh.) Craig is a lot better at holding the line and tightening the reigns. I am a really loose and easy going guy. That translates into my parenting.

If my daughter started climbing on something I wouldn’t say to get down. I would say as you are up there look down. See how far you are up. Just know that if you fall we are not going to the hospital. (Both laugh.) I am not making any hospital trips. So whatever happens you are going to have to live with it. She would look and make a decision either to keep going or say okay I am coming down.

Craig is a little more stern, but he is still an easy going and fun loving guy. Tammy Townsend, who plays Kira who is my wife on the show has to reign my character in. It is almost like she has four kids. (Both laugh.)

AE: Many people like myself loved your role on “A Different World” as Dwayne Wayne. How has the TV industry and filming a show changed from that time on “A Different World” to now on the set of “K.C. Undercover?”

KH: There has been a really long dry spell. I thought “A Different World” was a show that could go on forever even without the main cast. It is a show about school and could always be relevant. So you take out the old and then bring in the new. You just keep cycling people in every four years. Every four years you could just change the cast. There is no shortage of talent out there. You just have to have a vehicle to get them there.

After we went off they went with dual comedian driven shows. Bill (Cosby) started out as a comedian, but Martin (Lawrence) had a show that ran for a while. Then there was Will (Smith.) Then it started to slow down as if there were was nothing for a few years. We couldn’t get any shows with black families in them.

So how has it changed? It kind of has been parallel. It really hasn’t risen or dipped. It has been on a straight line. One thing that has changed is that we used to do a live audience show. Now there is no audience. They go much faster nowadays. We take two days to tape it. There are lots of stunts, gags, and fun stuff like that. It really wouldn’t work for a live audience. They would see the same stuff over and over.

PHOTO CREDIT: ©PHOTOGRAPHER/DISNEY CHANNEL

PHOTO CREDIT: ©PHOTOGRAPHER/DISNEY CHANNEL

I really miss the audience. I really enjoy an audience come in and put it on as a play. Here we block and tape. On Thursday and Friday we do the whole thing in pieces. The writers act as our audience. They laugh. They help us with timing. It’s a comedy. You need to hear laughter. You need to know how long the laughs will be. I was a big fan of it being organic. If it doesn’t work the audience will let you know. (Both laugh.) That is hard on the writers and the performers. You would be like oh that bombed. As an actor you kick it to the writers. You would say hey I said what you wrote. A writer would say you didn’t say it right. It was always that internal say it right. We would say write it right.

AE: Now switching to fatherhood how you balance work and family.

KH: Luckily my kid is in school now. I don’t have that every day of being right on top of her like do this or do that. She is a pretty good and responsible kid. She is in school. I can’t wait for her to be done with school. She is in her last year of high school. We will be able to hang out more and do fun stuff.

Now it is pretty easy. Having a job makes it more fun because you can buy more stuff and be like a big kid. Not having a job makes it a little tense. I would be like sorry baby we can’t do that right now until we get some more money.

AE: What are some of the morals you looked to instill in your daughter as she grew up?

KH: I am a big believer in not sweating the small stuff and not worrying about things that you can’t change. Worry about what you can effect. Everything happens for a reason. You are exactly where you are supposed to be.

AE: What is the biggest thing in your mind that has changed from the time that you were growing up in to now as your daughter

Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

grows up?

KH: When I was growing up and I did something wrong I would get a spanking. These days kids get a talking to. They get a verbal lesson. I was lucky. My kid was good. She did two or three things that didn’t make any sense. That was it. She got two spankings. She was like I don’t want that no more. That was it.

Life of Dad Quick Five

AE: What is your favorite family movie you guys like to watch together?

KH: We would watch “My Neighbor Totoro.” That was a big one. It was a Japanese Anime. From the time that she was four years old we were into some crazy horror movies and Japanese Anime. Hayao Miyazaki was our guy.

AE: Do you guys have a favorite song that you all like to sing and dance to as a family?

KH: When she was little and the first time I had ever heard her sing was Alicia Keys, “Fallen.” She was in the car seat and all of a sudden that song came on and she started singing. It was like whoa. (Both laugh.) She knew all the words. At that point I didn’t even think that she could talk. She just busted out with a perfect pitch. I thought it was an alien or something that was behind me.

When she grew up it was Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson’s “Scream.” I would always sing the Michael part and she would sing the Janet part. She would be very upset if I started to bleed into the Janet part. She would stop the whole thing and say, ‘No papi.’

AE: Describe the perfect family vacation.

KH: Wow, I would say that we would all go to Japan. We would just get waist deep into electronic stores and gadgets. We would be like hey let’s check this out and let’s check that out.

AE: I see you are a comic geek. What is your favorite comic book right now?

KH: Right now I am reading old stuff that I didn’t get to read years ago when I was crazy busy. The last one that I read from cover to cover was “The Watchmen.”

AE: Who is your favorite spy of all time?

KH: Wow. Not that many people remember or equated him as a spy, but Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon” is the ultimate spy. I grew up with Roger Moore. I was too young for Sean Connery. I dug Daniel Craig’s take on James Bond. My favorite spy movie? There are a bunch of good ones, but the one that holds a special place for me because I was a little dude was “Enter the Dragon.”

Follow Kadeem Hardison on Twitter @KadeemHardison.

“K.C. Undercover” is on Sundays ( 8:30 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel.