UPDATE: Sadly Marlon Wayans has cancelled his Rochester appearances. You can read a statement from the venue here.
The scope
and depth of actor and comedian Marlon Wayans’ fame is impressive. At 46,
Wayans has more than six million Facebook likes and two million Twitter
followers, garnered from a three-decade career in film, TV, and now standup.
“It’s
just the beginning,” Wayans’ told CITY via telephone just minutes before a
7:30 p.m. showtime at Albany’s Funny Bone Comedy Club. He’s been making
appearances like that one for seven years, as part of a process of becoming an
internationally touring comic.
“In world
of standup, I’m still a baby,” Wayans says. “I feel like I’m
crawling. Standing on my feet. Starting walking. But I may just start running. I’m
going to have a quicker progression than most comedians because I’ve been
acting so long. I’ve been writing so long.”
Wayans’
career started with a bit-roles in the 1987 cult comedy “I’m Gonna Git You
Sucka” and on the trailblazing 90’s FOX sketch comedy show, “In Living Color.” Both
projects were created by his oldest brother, comedy legend Keenan Ivory Wayans.
“In Living Color” launched the careers of Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer
Lopez, and other Wayans siblings Damon, Shawn, and Kim.
Marlon and
older brother Shawn also starred in the “Wayans Brothers,” a long-running WB
sitcom that premiered the night the network began. But Marlon is arguably best
known for co-writing and co-producing the mega-hit horror film spoof series “Scary
Movie” with his brothers Keenan Ivory and Shawn. The
two editions of “Scary Movie” shepherded by the Wayans family grossed $278 million
and $141.2 million worldwide.
In the years
since, he’s charted his own path. His first standup special, “Woke-ish,” dropped
on Netflix in early 2018. He’s also currently toplining, producing, and writing
an NBC sitcom, “Marlon.” Despite all this success, Wayans explained that he has
be careful about how his business partners see him. Creatively, both NBC and
Netflix “give me the space to do what I do,” he says. “I got a lot of trust I
think from Netflix and a lot of trust from NBC. Netflix is a little more
supportive because of what they put behind the potential of what I’m doing. I
think because Netflix is a worldwide platform, they understand that I’m a
worldwide international star. And I think sometimes with NBC, they can get it
twisted, like I’m an urban talent.”
But Wayans
says he’s got a big, worldwide fan base, particularly in Brazil, Italy, and
Sweden. He’s also performed for audiences in Saudi Arabia.
Wayans says
he doesn’t think that NBC takes full advantage of his international star
status. “They’re stuck in an old format of ‘African Americans don’t travel’ and
that an African American show is an African American show,” he says. “Sometimes,
I feel like I have to continue to educate the people I’m in business with about
who I am as a performer, and the numbers will show.”
Wayans’
performances are part improv and partly based on precisely pruned, often crude
premises. He pairs political and physical humor with personal elements.
“I’m glad I
talked about those things but I need to get that out the way, so I can get to
me,” Wayans says. “And that’s just the shell. We’re just now getting to the
good part.”
“The good
part” is often darkly funny and awkward. Wayans’ sitcom is centered on the
realities of his divorce, co-parenting his children, and prolonging his fame in
this era. These ideas float into his standup. He uses the both art forms to connect
with audiences through shared experiences and emotions.
“Sometimes
you’re an example,” he says, “to somebody who is sitting in the audience. Going
through the same thing. Or has been through the same thing. And they’re looking
for when to laugh at pain. As a comedian you bare your soul and you teach
people how to laugh — at themselves. When they don’t take life so serious, I
did my job.”
But Wayans
doesn’t believe that most comedy today is doing its job. He says that most current
comics are “subtle” and are “thinking funny”
“I come from
a place where we showed you the joke and we were more animated,” Wayans says.
“I grew up on “Looney Toons.” I didn’t grow up on CNN.”
“Marlon” is streaming
on Hulu, Netflix, and nbc.com. “Woke-ish” is streaming on Netflix.
This article appears in Aug 22-28, 2018.
