The Wayans brothers were a comedic force in the '90s, but it's been years since they've dominated at the box office. Could a resurgence be in the cards? Maybe, but it might not be with the guys you expect.
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00:00The Wayans Brothers were a comedic force in the 90s, but it's been years since they've
00:04dominated at the box office.
00:06Could a resurgence be in the cards?
00:08Maybe, but it might not be with the guys you expect.
00:12The Wayans Brothers cut their teeth in late-80s cult classic films like I'm Gonna Get You,
00:16Sucka! and Earthgirls Are Easy.
00:18Then in 1990, they came together as a group for the sketch show In Living Color, where
00:22they proved they had the comedy chops to rival the biggest names of the day.
00:26In Living Color became a big hit for Fox, but the relationship between the network and
00:30the Wayans didn't last.
00:32During an appearance on the club's Shay-Shay podcast, Marlon said that the syndication
00:36arrangement wasn't working out financially for Kenan, the show's creator.
00:39The rest of the family were offered big paydays to get on board with the move.
00:43Instead, they put on a united front for their brother.
00:46It was a curtain Kenan was pocketing, and Kenan was like, nah, you ain't gonna do this
00:50to me.
00:51And my family said, f—k this money, and we all left In Living Color.
00:55After In Living Color's success, the Wayans brothers went back to their big-screen roots.
01:00Kenan starred in a low-down Dirty Shame, while Sean and Marlon teamed up for Don't Be a Menace
01:04to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood.
01:07That success continued into the new millennium, where Marlon spearheaded slapstick cash cows
01:11like Scary Movie and White Chicks.
01:13But as the years ticked on, the Wayans' brand of goofball satire seemed to lose its luster,
01:18and audiences began to abandon them.
01:202006's Little Man flopped, and 2009's Dance Flick was a box office bomb, barely making
01:26back its $25 million budget domestically.
01:29The world of comedy was changing, and the brothers could tell.
01:33In 2016, Damon Wayans came back to TV to lead a more comedy-focused remake of the 80s classic
01:38Lethal Weapon, taking over Danny Glover's role of Roger Murtaugh.
01:42Though critics weren't always hot on the series, they did like the chemistry between Wayans
01:46and his co-lead, Clayne Crawford, and the show's debut season did pretty solid numbers.
01:51After the show's third year, however, Wayans bailed.
01:54Crawford was canned just a few months before.
01:56With both stars gone, the show had little choice but to close shop.
02:00Wayans later told EURWeb that he chose to leave to focus on his health.
02:04I'm a 58-year-old diabetic, and I'm working 16-hour days.
02:10While he was proud of the show, he wanted to take better care of himself and spend more
02:14time with family.
02:15He explained,
02:16It's hard for me to play this loving, supportive father-husband friend on TV and be the guy
02:21in life that is telling everyone, I can't, I gotta work.
02:24I have seven grandkids.
02:25I've been missing recitals and graduations.
02:27To me, it's just not worth it.
02:29That's not my area of expertise.
02:32What is my domain is sustaining the life of one Roger Mayfield Murtaugh.
02:38In 2018, a few of the brothers got back together and returned to their roots of stand-up comedy.
02:43Keenan and Sean picked up the mic and reunited with their former In Living Color co-stars
02:47David Alan Greer and Tommy Davidson for the Off Color Comedy Tour.
02:51Sean had actually been doing stand-up for some time, and he kept it going after the
02:55reunion tour.
02:56His solo tour took him all over the United States, performing material largely crafted
03:00during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
03:03Damon has also taken to the road, while Marlon has toured regularly in recent years and,
03:07in 2024, released his own comedy special on Amazon Prime titled Good Grief.
03:13Bill Cosby's America's Dad legacy was shattered in late 2014, when numerous women came forward
03:18to accuse the star of sexual misconduct.
03:21Cosby was convicted for aggravated indecent assault in 2018, but when rumors about his
03:26alleged predatory behavior came up in 2015, Damon Wayans spoke out in support of him.
03:32During an appearance on The Breakfast Club, Wayans stated that he didn't believe Cosby's
03:35accusers because he, quote, was in relationships with them, all of them, and that they weren't
03:40attractive enough to be the target of sexual assault.
03:43I look at him and go, no, he don't want that.
03:46Get out of here.
03:49The backlash was swift, and Wayans' reputation took a hit.
03:52He rigorously defended his comments, claiming the media was twisting his words, and urged
03:56people to watch the full interview.
03:59I don't know if I believe every single fifth of the 50 women, but I do believe that there's
04:03some.
04:04There may be.
04:05And for them, my heart goes out to them.
04:08Despite his regular stand-up tours, Marlon Wayans wasn't ready to give up on acting,
04:12even if that meant being relegated to supporting roles.
04:15Wayans appeared in Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's Air, which chronicles the corporate clash to
04:19sign emerging basketball superstar Michael Jordan to a shoe deal in the mid-1980s.
04:24He plays George Raveling, an early coach in Jordan's career who went on to become Nike's
04:28director for international basketball.
04:30He was instrumental in helping the shoe company ink a deal with the future Chicago Bulls legend,
04:35and Wayans' performance helped earn the film a Critics' Choice Awards nomination for Best
04:39Acting Ensemble.
04:40What was the line you were looking for?
04:44I have a dream.
04:46Not long after that came Bel-Air, a dramatic reimagining of the 90s sitcom The Fresh Prince
04:51of Bel-Air.
04:52Wayans plays the father of the new Will Smith, who was led to believe that his dad abandoned
04:56him.
04:57He shows up in the season one finale, and explains to Will that he's actually been in
05:00prison and that he didn't want his son to see him locked up.
05:03It's an emotional moment that reminded viewers how capable Marlon is in dramatic roles.
05:08Keenan Ivory Wayans' last on-screen performance was in a 2013 episode of TV Land's Happily
05:13Divorced, but he hasn't stayed away from Hollywood.
05:16Instead, he stepped behind the camera to pursue writing, directing, and producing.
05:20In fact, Wayans wrote and directed several of his brother's movies.
05:24He co-wrote White Chicks and Little Man, which starred Marlon and Sean, as well as Dance
05:28Flick, which was helmed by his nephew, Damian Dante Wayans.
05:31He also directed I'm Gonna Get You, Sucka!, as well as the first two scary movies.
05:36More recently, Wayans served as a writer for eight episodes of the Tracy Morgan comedy
05:40The Last O.G.
05:42The Wayans brothers clearly don't regret walking away from In Living Color, but that doesn't
05:46mean the creator doesn't miss it.
05:48In fact, Keenan attempted to launch a new version of the sketch show in 2012.
05:52He served as writer and on-screen host, but the rest of his brothers were absent.
05:56In their place was a new collection of young comic talent that included Lil Rel Howery,
06:00Jermaine Fowler, Cooper Barnes, and Callie Hawk.
06:03Hopes were high at Fox.
06:05A pilot episode was produced, but, according to Keenan, the show simply didn't work.
06:09When the plug was pulled on the reboot, he told the New York Post,
06:12"...the bar for In Living Color is so high that, if I didn't feel like we could sustain
06:16that, then I did not want to move forward."
06:18He blamed the failure on changing times and new sensibilities, and he also said that the
06:23talent pool required for such a show just wasn't large enough.
06:26Fox president of entertainment Kevin Reilly agreed, saying,
06:29"...the stars just didn't align.
06:31I think the pilot was pretty funny, but it just didn't feel like we had the players."
06:35Keenan isn't the only Wayans brother to put thought into a reboot.
06:38Damon's son, actor Damon Wayans Jr., revealed to CBS This Morning that the brothers have
06:43talked about bringing the show back, saying,
06:45"...I feel like they visited it a couple of times, but it never really, like, actually
06:49landed.
06:50I think if I were to take the helm, maybe."
06:52But recapturing the show's magic could be difficult, especially in the current climate.
06:57When David Alan Greer was asked about a reboot while appearing on The Daily Show in 2024,
07:01he noted that complaining about TV shows was a lot harder before social media.
07:06"...the world has changed.
07:08You can't be doing that crazy stuff we did.
07:10I mean, we barely got away the last time."
07:14Even if the Wayans brothers never match their early-90s success, their legacy is already
07:18secure.
07:19In Living Color is still regarded as a landmark show, and an entire generation of aspiring
07:23comedians look to the Wayans as idols.
07:26And Living Color actually impacted more than just comedy.
07:29It may even be responsible for today's extravagant Super Bowl halftime shows.
07:33A special episode timed for the middle of the 1992 championship game proved so popular
07:38that the NFL was forced to turn the halftime show into a bigger spectacle to avoid losing
07:43viewers.
07:44This led to Michael Jackson headlining the event the following year.
07:47But if you ask Kenan, he's more proud of the opportunity the show gave to women.
07:51He said at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019,
07:54If people were to look at the credits on In Living Color, I would say 80 percent of our
07:57staff were all women and women of color.
08:00From the co-executive producer to the line producer, to the first Black woman to direct
08:04a sketch comedy, Terry McCoy, to Pam Vesey, who was our head writer.
08:08Details like that prove the Wayans family has changed the industry for the better through
08:12more than just laughs.
08:14While Hollywood may have largely turned away from the Wayans that put the name on the map,
08:18that doesn't mean studios and networks are done with the family for good.
08:21In fact, there's a new Wayans on the block.
08:24Damon Wayans Jr.'s first role was in his dad's 1994 superhero parody Blank Man, in which
08:29he played the younger version of David Alan Greer's character.
08:32Since then, Damon Jr. has appeared in movies and shows of his own, most notably Let's Be
08:37Cops and New Girl.
08:38He was also the voice of Wasabi in Big Hero 6.
08:41Notably, the new generation of Wayans is playing a key part in bringing the old ones back into
08:45the fold.
08:46Damon Jr. and his dad co-star in the CBS sitcom Papa's House, in which Damon Sr. plays a
08:51veteran radio host and Damon Jr. plays his son.
08:54Both father and son serve as executive producers on the series, and Damon Sr. is also credited
08:59as a co-writer.
09:01Speaking about his involvement in the show, he told Entertainment Tonight,
09:04"...I've been trying to do this for about 10 years now, but Wayans Jr.'s people didn't
09:08think I was ready yet.
09:09But it's been in the making.
09:11We've been talking about it for a while and it just finally kind of came together."
09:15There's a lot of authentic grains of our real life put into this show.