NEW YORK -- Eight years ago, comedian Chris Tucker was working for his parents' carpet-cleaning business in Atlanta.

Even though he's now earning $7 million US per film, Tucker insists little has changed.

"I'm still basically working for my parents. My dad and mom retired from the carpet business so I could support them. My mom wants a new car each year," says Tucker.

"My (five) brothers claim I should be supporting them, too, because if it wasn't for them, I'd never have become a comedian.

"I had to become the family clown. Being the youngest, my brothers beat on me and their friends beat on me.

"Out of necessity, I learned to make them laugh. If I did, they'd stop beating on me."

Tucker tried the same tricks at school. He made his fellow students laugh, but the teachers and administrators were not amused.

"The principal thought I was such a loser that he tried to talk my (high school) girlfriend into dropping me."

The high-pitched voice that once drove his teachers to distraction is now one of Tucker's greatest assets.

"I've even considered insuring my vocal chords," says Tucker, whose appearances in The Fifth Element and Money Talks made him a box-office phenomenon.

He really turns up the volume for the raucous comedy Rush Hour -- opening tomorrow -- which teams him with Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan.

"What I do with my voice is the equivalent of what Jackie does with his hands," says Tucker.

"Jackie and I had instant chemistry because he's funny physically and I'm funny verbally."

While filming Rush Hour, Tucker and Chan tried to step into each other's shoes -- with near disastrous results.

"Jackie is famous for doing all his own stunts. There's a scene where I have to jump onto a moving bus. I wanted to impress Jackie, so I insisted on doing the stunt myself.

"I almost got killed because one time the bus turned a corner just as I grabbed onto it and it whipped me into a prone flying position."

Tucker says it wasn't long before he discovered Chan's Achilles heel.

"Jackie can fight, jump onto moving vehicles and run up the side of a building, but he can't dance. One day when I was trying to teach him some dance moves, he almost dislocated his neck."

Tucker thought this was so incongruous, he talked Chan and director Brett Ratner into incorporating a mock dance lesson into Rush Hour.

"Even though he's the brunt of the joke, it wasn't that hard getting him to co-operate. Jackie is like a big kid. He's such a good sport that he'd do anything I ask him to."

In Rush Hour, Tucker and Chan play a pair of mismatched cops investigating a kidnapping in L.A.

Tucker admits he patterned his character after Eddie Murphy's career-making turn in Beverly Hills Cop.

"Eddie is my mentor. Much of my standup act was inspired by his work. I've met him several times. He told me he's looking for a project that will team us up.

"Eddie is a great guy. He told me a lot of stuff to watch out for when things are really starting to come together for you as they are for me right now."

One thing Murphy told Tucker was tone down the adult material in his act.

"I find that hilarious. When I was starting out, it was my mother who was always telling me not to cuss in my comedy act.

"Now that I'm making so much money cussing, she thinks it's fine.

"And then there's Eddie. He made his name cussing and now he's telling me to tone it down.

"Eddie's become my mother and my mother has become Eddie."


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