SNL's Tim Meadows To Be a Father

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” ``The Ladies Man'' is really a home lover. <br><br>Tim Meadows, whose new film spins off the clueless host of his ``Saturday Night Live'' sketches, is expecting his

Monday, October 16th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” ``The Ladies Man'' is really a home lover.

Tim Meadows, whose new film spins off the clueless host of his ``Saturday Night Live'' sketches, is expecting his first child around Christmas with his wife, Michelle.

Family even played a role in his creation of Leon Phelps, the lisping, afro-wearing Lothario who appears to be permanently stuck in the 1970s.

``I'd make crank phone calls using this voice,'' Meadows told the Daily News of Los Angeles in Sunday's editions. ``I'd call radio stations and order food with it, mainly to entertain my wife. She suggested that I do it on the show, but I didn't want to because it was this one little, private, secret character that I had.''

But he finally told a couple of the show's writers, who developed the idea of making the character into a radio host who answers questions about sex and love.

Meadows, a 39-year-old Detroit native, defends the character.

``Leon's not a negative caricature of black people,'' Meadows says. ``He doesn't kowtow to anybody.''

``And besides, I didn't invent the afro; it was invented by my family and the Jackson Five.''