C.J.: 'Black-ish' actor Anthony Anderson falls deeply under the spell of Prince when so invited

"When Prince summons you to the suite or to the house, you show up," said comedian Anthony Anderson, while on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

The subject of hanging with Prince came up while Anderson was promoting his new ABC show, "black-ish," a comedy about a man raising children who are not as in touch with their skin tones as their dad thinks they should be. "Black-ish" also stars Tracee Ellis Ross and Laurence Fishburne.

Kimmel wanted to know if Prince actually called to request Anderson's presence.

Come on, Jimmy, even I know the answer to that question!

Anderson said he gets a phone call from someone associated with the royal entourage, saying something along the line of, "Prince would like you to come to the suite for pizza and pasta," Anderson said, affecting a voice. "I'm like, 'Alright, it's 3 a.m. OK. I'll come to the party.'

"I'm not going to lie, this is a true story: He cornered me at the elevator in his house one day, trying to convert me to be a Jehovah's Witness. Oh my god, he was 2 inches away from my face and I made the mistake of looking him in his eyes. Jamie Foxx said never look him in his eyes! And he [Prince] was like, Anthony, I hear things are going on in Hollywood with my brothers and sisters. Is everything OK? I said, 'Yeah, yeah, Prince.' He was like, Can I have your number to call you? And I was like, 'Ah, yeah.' Then some noise happened in the back and he said, I'll be right back. … Twenty minutes later I'm standing in the corner at the elevator waiting on Prince and my wife says, Baby, come on, let's go, it's 3:30 in the morning. I said, 'Baby, Prince asked me to stay right here. He's going to call me.' And so he made three wardrobe changes [the audience laughed], finally came back and got my number. We've been cool ever since."

If you can find the clip on ABC's website, it's worth it to hear Anderson's Prince voice, as well as his failed attempt to imitate the rock legend's laugh, which takes place in a register Anderson said he cannot reach.

What do you imagine were the first four words out of my mouth last week when the inestimable new Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner walked by me?

Oh! I love you!

I love you?

It just slipped out. I told the longtime NFL coach, coordinator and all-around decent human being that I'd been a fan for a long time. "Thank you. Appreciate it so much," said the soft-spoken Turner.

I told Turner that love might have been too strong but I was briefly shocked to be so close to him.

Turner can no doubt use a little extra love these days, having lost the player he had to be most excited about coaching, the face of the Vikings, No. 1 offensive weapon Adrian Peterson, who is gone probably for the season and maybe for good, Vikings fans.

Sunday's loss to the Saints (the nerve of Drew Brees to complain about how he was tackled — remember "Bountygate?") plus the injury to Matt Cassell (never my idea of an answer to the Vikings' QB question) probably puts Turner in even more need of love.

Not that Teddy Bridgewater won't be just fine, given how tranquil he is in the pocket. But Bridgewater is a rookie.

Wide receiver Greg Jennings trotted by me Thursday when I was at Winter Park, so I followed up on a column item from Edina's Susan Bowman.

Bowman was touched by how interested Jennings appeared in her family when she saw him having a recent dinner at Manny's.

"Great," he said, adding a thumbs-up.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.