As you might expect from a hilarious sketch comedy show, "In Living Color" had a ton of great parodies. For this list, we’ll be looking at the sketch comedy classic’s best spoofs of other TV shows, movies and music.
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00:00 Who are you?
00:02 I am the Minister Louis Ferguson.
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:07 And today, we're counting down our picks for the top 10
00:11 hilarious in living color parodies.
00:14 If I had a tattoo of the United States all over my body,
00:18 which area of the country would you go visit?
00:21 I'm going to Europe.
00:23 For this list, we'll be looking at the sketch comedy classics
00:26 best spoofs of other TV shows, movies, and music.
00:30 Which in living color parody gave you the biggest laughs?
00:33 Show us something in the comments down below.
00:37 Number 10, Boys to Wimps, End of the Road.
00:41 Boys to men's emotional vulnerability
00:44 made women swoon throughout the '90s.
00:46 [MUSIC - BOYS TO WIMPS, "END OF THE ROAD"]
00:53 But others weren't as crazy and reverent to this brand of R&B
00:57 for the boy band age.
00:59 In a parody of the hit single, End of the Road,
01:01 Dave and Alan Grier adds an unexpected spoken word bridge.
01:04 As it goes on, it turns into an increasingly disturbing
01:08 one-sided conversion with his love interest.
01:10 I'm not stalking you.
01:12 I love you.
01:13 Yeah, I know there's a restraining order,
01:15 but am I in with 100 feet of you?
01:17 While he spirals, the rest of the band
01:19 reacts and even throws in their own comments.
01:22 It all culminates to the reveal that his girlfriend cheated
01:26 on him with the other singers.
01:28 It's on now.
01:29 [SCREAMING]
01:30 Oh, this is a holla.
01:32 I'm here right up on it.
01:33 You probably slept with them too, huh?
01:34 Yeah, I'm running back.
01:35 This skit perfectly captured the dramatic narratives and sound
01:39 of the R&B age while throwing in some funny twists.
01:42 Number 9, Wanda on the Dating Game, The Dating Game.
01:47 This riff on the popular program has never
01:50 seen anything like Wanda Wayne.
01:51 Played by Jamie Foxx, Wanda was one of In Living Color's
01:55 most popular characters.
01:56 Now let's meet our new bachelorette.
01:58 Please welcome Miss Wanda Wayne.
02:02 Holy crap.
02:04 She was a frisky and shockingly unappealing woman
02:07 who tests people's manners.
02:09 This made for some bizarre flirting
02:11 with her poor, unsuspecting bachelors.
02:13 That's how I turn you on.
02:15 The only thing that'll get turned on
02:17 is the lights so you can see how to get your ass out
02:19 of my apartment.
02:19 It also presented Jim Carrey the opportunity
02:22 to play the clever straight man as the show's host.
02:25 This cringe-tastic skit was Wanda's first,
02:28 and it's considered one of her funniest.
02:30 What's wrong with you?
02:31 I'm the catch of the day.
02:33 Somebody need to throw your ugly ass back.
02:37 What'd you say?
02:38 I know you're not tripping.
02:39 No, no, he said--
02:40 I know he's not tripping.
02:41 No, he said, there's no way I'm turning back.
02:43 If nothing else, it reminds us of the ugly truth
02:46 about dating shows supposedly hyping
02:49 personality over appearance.
02:51 Number eight, "Cookin' with Salt-N-Pepa, Push It."
02:55 Salt-N-Pepa made hip hop history just with one
02:59 of the great party anthems.
03:00 [MUSIC - SALT-N-PEPA, "PUSH IT"]
03:03 Push it good.
03:04 Push it.
03:05 Push it real good.
03:07 As sexy as "Push It" is, it inspired
03:10 one of In Living Color's funniest clean skits.
03:13 Well, at least the writing is clean.
03:16 "Cookin' with Salt-N-Pepa" features hip hop stars trying
03:18 to prepare meatloaf while rapping and dancing
03:21 around the kitchen.
03:22 While they make a terrible mess, the spoof lyrics to "Cook It"
03:26 have flavor.
03:27 This feast, now won't you squeeze those eggs really hard?
03:30 I wish you would.
03:31 Now squash it.
03:32 Squash it.
03:33 It's impossible to not fill up on the fun
03:36 that Kim Cole's Takiya Crystal Kima and Kim Wayne's
03:39 are clearly having.
03:40 The skit may be short, but it really hits the spot.
03:44 It helps that the title "Cookin' with Salt-N-Pepa"
03:46 is so good that the rappers borrowed it
03:48 for a real food show in 2015.
03:52 No one knows flavor--
03:53 You ready to eat?
03:54 Oh, my God.
03:55 --like "Salt-N-Pepa."
03:56 Number seven, the Brothers Brothers, the Smothers
03:59 Brothers Comedy Hour.
04:01 Early on within "Living Color," the Waynes brothers
04:04 shook the format with the Brothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
04:07 (SINGING) My brother's a brother, and so am I.
04:10 Or so it appears to the casual eye.
04:14 Both named after their uncle, Tom and Tom Brothers
04:17 were pitched as nice and unassuming men
04:19 that wouldn't hurt a fly.
04:21 As they sang their corny songs, it
04:23 brought attention to Hollywood's issues
04:25 with diversity in programming.
04:27 The duo were marketed as Black men who were oblivious
04:31 to the contemporary issues.
04:32 The police arrested me for no reason.
04:35 Oh, come on.
04:36 The police don't do that.
04:37 They're your friends.
04:38 They're here to protect and serve.
04:40 But by pretending not to know about troubling trends,
04:43 they put the spotlight on them.
04:45 The brothers were brought into a variety of spaces
04:47 to make relevant social commentary.
04:50 Listen here, pal.
04:50 Just because we're entertainers doesn't make us snobs.
04:53 That's right.
04:54 We're people.
04:56 We are the world.
04:57 While there's no belittling the importance of the Smothers
05:00 Brothers, the Brothers Brothers may
05:03 have had more urgent comedy.
05:05 Number six, "All Up in the Family," "All in the Family."
05:09 While the Jeffersons and Good Times
05:11 revolutionized Black representation on TV,
05:14 the middle class sitcom perspective
05:16 was arguably dominated by the controversial Archie Bunker.
05:19 Now, a man's hormones, they put ideas in his head, see?
05:23 Ideas.
05:24 And he goes around thinking of these ideas
05:27 until one day he has to do something about them, see?
05:31 And "Living Color" tackled that with the even more irrelevant
05:34 "All Up in the Family."
05:36 Mark Wilmore portrays Archie as an archetypal Black
05:39 conservative man who's annoyed with '90s
05:41 social and pop culture trends.
05:43 Eat it with my eight ball.
05:44 I don't see a mall liquor in your hand there, huh?
05:46 Don't you remember, Archie, they burned down the liquor
05:50 stores during the riots.
05:52 You stifle yourself.
05:53 That was a civil unrest, and don't you forget it.
05:55 Each of these skits expanded the satire
05:58 of Black American culture's conflicts and stereotypes.
06:01 Of course, Archie wasn't exactly happy with trends
06:05 of other aspects of American culture either.
06:08 You're never going to guess what happened today.
06:10 You didn't get pulled over by the cops.
06:12 No, I didn't get pulled over by the cops, you dingbat.
06:15 Although "All Up in the Family" may not
06:17 have gotten the same level of notoriety as its parody target,
06:20 the skit series was still just as funny.
06:23 Number five, "Career Aid, We Are the World."
06:27 In 1985, the massive supergroup USA for Africa
06:31 promoted famine relief with a hit single.
06:34 This may have also been an act of charity for the singers.
06:36 We are the world.
06:39 We are the children.
06:43 Observing that many of them were experiencing
06:45 professional ruts at the time, the show
06:47 spoofed the song with the great career aid.
06:49 Within the show, the track functioned as an anthem
06:52 to raise public awareness of celebrities
06:54 whose star were fading.
06:56 We are here for the most important cause
06:58 of all, our careers.
06:59 The skit featured its own all-star choir
07:02 of in-living-color impressionists
07:04 to poke fun at the USA for Africa star's
07:06 contemporary financial woes.
07:08 Ironically enough, especially some of the stars it parodied
07:11 got even bigger later on.
07:13 We are the world.
07:14 We are the world.
07:16 We are the cause now.
07:18 Our cause now.
07:19 If we're so bright, why don't you know
07:22 that we're still living?
07:24 But that doesn't change the fact that the skit was a great way
07:28 to poke fun at celebrity activism.
07:30 Number four, "My Songs Are Mindless."
07:33 Gypsy Woman, "She's Homeless."
07:36 In living colors, music parodies are typically cutting,
07:39 but they are rarely as riotously sharp as their rift
07:43 on Crystal Water's "Gypsy Woman."
07:44 [MUSIC - GYPSY WOMAN, "MY SONGS ARE MINDLESS"]
07:52 The original is considered a seminal house music classic,
07:56 so some contemporary listeners were probably
07:59 thrown off by this upbeat parody dance jam.
08:02 Kim Wayans nails the inflection and moves of the video.
08:05 At the same time, she takes tons of pot shots at Crystal Waters.
08:10 It's time for me to write a new song.
08:13 It's just that easy, just watching TV.
08:17 Wayans portrayed the singer as a ditzy non-celebrity
08:20 whose songwriting may as well been inspired by watching TV.
08:24 So Waters didn't exactly love the parody.
08:27 Despite her negative reaction, "My Songs Are Mindless"
08:30 still stands as one of the show's best parodies.
08:33 [MUSIC - MY SONGS ARE MINDLESS]
08:41 Number three, "The Wrath of Farrakhan,"
08:44 "Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan."
08:47 In living color, couldn't wait past this second episode
08:50 to showcase Jim Carrey's over-the-top Captain Kirk
08:53 impression.
08:54 We're being pulled towards a hostile planet.
08:57 I'm hoping that Scotty will be able to activate
08:59 the backup control system.
09:01 God, I feel so vulnerable.
09:04 But their spoof on "The Wrath of Khan"
09:06 had another perfect play on contemporary pop culture.
09:09 By 1990, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan
09:13 had polarized America with his dedicated activists
09:16 and extremist ideas.
09:17 When Damon Wayans portrayed him boarding the Starship
09:20 Enterprise, he was at his preachiest.
09:22 Put your puny weapon down, Captain.
09:25 You cannot harm me.
09:27 My people have survived 400 years of slavery.
09:32 Of course, Kirk didn't come out of this encounter unfazed.
09:35 Farrakhan inspired a mutiny with his astute points
09:38 about the Enterprise's power structure.
09:40 Oh, I love it when I do that to them.
09:44 Nubia Princess, call Sylvia's soul food shack.
09:48 Make reservations.
09:49 Although Farrakhan's rhetoric has its own issues,
09:53 the Starfleet still has some things they need to work on too.
09:57 Number two, "Can't Touch This."
09:59 You can't touch this.
10:01 It was certainly hard for rappers in the early '90s
10:03 to touch MC Hammer's style and pop appeal.
10:06 Fresh through kicks and bands.
10:08 You got it like that, now you know you want to dance.
10:10 So move out of your seat and get a five-year-old
10:12 and catch this beat while--
10:13 Both, however, had plenty of comedic pressure points.
10:17 "In Living Color" admittedly went broad
10:20 by poking fun at Hammer's signature parachute pants
10:23 through his signature hit, "You Can't Touch This."
10:25 Pants so baggy when the move, it ain't hard.
10:27 Man, you want to say, oh my lord, hey, Hammer,
10:29 do you really have a weenie with pants like that?
10:31 You look like a genie, they give me.
10:33 Its lyrics consisted of a punchy, humble brag
10:36 about how the rapper stays cool in spite of his ridiculously
10:40 breathable wardrobe.
10:41 Tommy Davison effectively killed that cool when
10:44 Hammer's parachute got tangled.
10:46 Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh.
10:51 In just over a minute, Davison touched every joke
10:55 that could be made about MC Hammer at the time.
10:58 Before we unveil our top pick, here
11:00 are a few honorable mentions.
11:02 Bill Clinton in "Humpin' Around."
11:05 "Humpin' Around."
11:06 Bill Clinton responds to sex scandals
11:08 with a tribute to Bobby Brown.
11:10 Ain't nobody humping around.
11:13 Ain't nobody humping.
11:14 Cape Rear 2, "Cape Fear."
11:17 A jealous Arsenio Hall's obsession with Eddie Murphy
11:20 would terrify Robert De Niro.
11:22 Yo, man, what's your lady laughing like a jackass?
11:25 Eddie, if this shoe fits, you wear it.
11:28 "Imposter."
11:29 "M-Former."
11:30 Jim Carrey returns as Snow to poke more fun at Vanilla Ice.
11:35 (SINGING) Imposter like Vanilla Ice,
11:37 the people are sick of me.
11:39 "Mama's Gonna Kick Me Out."
11:41 "Mama Said Knock You Out."
11:42 Struggling actor JJ Walker needs a win more than LL Cool J does.
11:47 Mama's gonna kick me out.
11:50 Mama's gonna scream and shout.
11:52 But it's not the all the bout.
11:54 Unpoetic Justice, "Poetic Justice."
11:57 John Singleton's romantic classic
12:00 seems much less romantic with weak rhymes.
12:03 I don't do hair.
12:04 I make up poems and say them to myself.
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12:26 Number one, "White White Baby," Ice Ice Baby.
12:30 In the early '90s, Vanilla Ice was
12:33 one of the hottest and most hated rappers
12:35 for ripping off other musicians like Queen and David Bowie.
12:38 (SINGING) Ice Ice Baby.
12:41 Vanilla Ice Ice Baby.
12:44 But in "Living Colors," Jim Carrey
12:46 exposed a greater theft with "White White Baby."
12:49 Ice brags about capitalizing on black artists and culture
12:53 in this snappy spoof lyric.
12:55 While hip hop enthusiasts debate the quality of Ice's work,
12:58 many thought he appropriated black culture.
13:01 Yo, VIP, let's kick it.
13:04 This prompted Carrey and other critics
13:06 to expose his act as a means of capitalizing
13:09 on other social spaces.
13:11 Harsh or valid, "White White Baby"
13:13 is considered as biting as any in "Living Colors" spoof.
13:17 It might even be catchier than "Ice Ice Baby."
13:21 (SINGING) He's white, white, baby.
13:25 He's just a white, white, baby.
13:29 We're talking white, white, baby.
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13:40 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:44 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:47 (upbeat music)
13:50 (upbeat music)