Club Shay Shay - Marlon Wayans Part 1

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

Marlon Wayans joins Shannon Sharpe at Club Shay Shay for an honest conversation about life, comedy, and family. Marlon, the youngest of the Wayans siblings, reflects on growing up as the "butt" of his family's jokes. He shares how his childhood was shaped by his mom's hands-on approach and his father's strict religious beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness. He talks about how his mom foresaw New York real estate's value skyrocketing and recounts wearing hand-me-downs from his brothers—a habit he's kept up even today. Marlon dives deep into his upbringing, recalling how different his family was from others in the neighborhood because they had both a mother and a father. He recounts having legendary entertainers like Eddie Murphy and Robert Townsend visit his home, and how he was writing sketches from a young age. Marlon also discusses the tension with his father over attending a performance arts high school and eventually leaving Howard University because of his experience with professors treating him differently due to In Living Color. He opens up about his career in comedy, from his early auditions for his brother's movie Mo' Money to the creation of The Wayans Bros TV show with his brother Shawn. Marlon reflects on his family being labeled with nepotism despite their immense talent and discusses the challenges they faced with networks, including their decision to leave In Living Color when NBC attempted to blackball his brother Keenen Ivory Wayans. Lastly, Marlon reminisces about an In Living Color special that led to the invention of the Super Bowl halftime show and the history of his family on Saturday Night Live. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What happens when a professional football player's career ends and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on? I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite.

For some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers. You mix homesteading with guns in church, voila, you got straight away. They tried to save everybody. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Michael Rapoport, and I have been professionally podcasting for 10 years. The podcast game has changed so much and if you're looking for the most disruptive podcast in the world then subscribe to the I Am Rappaport Stereo Podcast today. We're talking sports, politics, pop culture, entertainment and anything that catches my

attention. Listen to the I Am Rappaport Stereo Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Marla, you been to the Hollywood party. What's going on in these Hollywood parties? I left early. I've been to plenty ditty parties. I left early. I'm like, when I hear about it when did that happen at what time did this go down because I was there till 3 30 you mean 3 32 so they waited for me to leave like all right good that way his niggas gone he talked too much Sacrifice, hustle pay the price, want a slice Got to roll the dice, that's why, all my life I be grinding all my life, all my life Been grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle

pay the price, want a slice Got to roll the dice, that's why, all my life I be grinding all my life Hello, welcome to another episode of Club ShChe. I am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proprietor of Club CheChe. The guy that's stopping by for conversation and a drink today is one of the most recognized, respected and successful comedic actors of his generation. He has over 30 years in the entertainment industry. He's contributed to several iconic movie, cult classic and TV shows.

We're going to discuss those. He's a bankable star. His films have grossed over $1 billion global box office dollars. He's a writer, producer, stand-up comedian, and a Hollywood actor. He's an all-around entertainer, top-rated comedian icon, a member of the legendary, he's the youngest member

of the legendary Wayans family, empire that revolutionized the world of entertainment. He's an OG in the game. Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Marlon Wayans. Thank you. Damn, after that intro, I'm ready to retire. I ain't... I didn't know I did all that. You did all that, man.

Damn, you did all that. All of that. Damn, it's crazy. Bro, thanks for coming on, man. I really appreciate that. You know, when people come on my show, I have my own cognac. Yeah, I know. It's called Shade by La Portier.

And this VSOP won best, best, took up several awards. But uh. I seen a lot of people drink that shit and start talking crazy, so I'ma wait. Oh, you gonna call it crazy? I call it crazy juice. I'ma wait a second. Okay, well then we'll.

Actually, nah, you know, I have one with your brother. Here you go. You promote your product. I have to take a sip and let people know how it is. Mmm. That's nice. You know what's missing? What's missing? Some cigars.

So, I figure I bring you some of my cigars, brother, because I know you like black and mild, but we gonna get you off them black and mild. Okay Okay this you? This me, Liga Tridentes I'm one of my partnerships right here got into the cigar game and you know it's a beautiful box this is the nice Yazzakis right there, some Yazzukis so that's for you brother. I appreciate that. Smoke one, I'll send you a mild box too. Make sure y'all check it out. And do it with this, pair it with this as a great pairing. Boom, look at that. Two successful black men doing successful things.

That crazy juice hit you in the chest boy. Man that little bit right there. You fired it up later. Yeah. You're the youngest. Yes. Of ten. Yeah. You mentioned that how you grew up. Your family is very close. Ten comedians. So basically I'm the butt. So they work no number of material on you huh? I know how to take a joke. That's why I'm so patient. That's why I'm like you know I don't get in no trouble or nothing because I know how to like I could take it. I could take a hit. So with all ten of you guys because I know how to like I could take it I could take a hit so with all ten of you guys cuz I know Kenan is the second is what they call the knee baby he's the second oldest yes and then excuse me Kenan was so successful he made my oldest brother we discounted that nigga was a nobody

listening to doing just kidding no Kenan Kenan Kenan was my my parents they my mom he was we called him John Boy. Okay. Because he was that pioneer that came out here and set the trail of Blaze for all of us to follow. Right. So what was it like with all 10 of you guys in the house at one particular time? Because I know Kenan's about 15 years older than you.

I don't know how old the oldest brother. I was the baby, so we only had a four-bedroom apartment in the projects in New York. And my parents, I think my mom didn't want to get pregnant no more, so she was like, Negro, you sleep in that room, I'ma sleep in this room. So then it was me and my brothers and sisters, and boys in that room, girls in that room, and bunk beds.

It looked like a modern-day slave ship. So I don't know if we was, I mean, in a black family, you don't know if we all there at one time. I had sisters that, you know, somebody got arrested. I got sisters that was having babies. So they moved out and then Kenan went to college and Damon, who knows what Damon did? Damon probably ran away and did something crazy. So it was like in and out, but the family home was always there.

So what was it like for you being the baby because there's a spectation the moms like, okay When you have over older siblings, they look after the baby. They basically raise the baby. Yeah, the older kids Yeah, was it like that for you and your family? Um Yes, but no my mother was very you know handson, but there were certain things she didn't do. My mother had a point she stopped cooking. We became like elves. She stopped cooking. She stopped cleaning.

Everybody had a day. My mother had basically a cleaning service. I had to do laundry. I would take all the fam, 10 Negroes' laundry on my back. No, we didn't have a cart. The laundry mat was like five blocks away. My friends used to call me Black Santa Claus because I would have this laundry

and I would take five trips, 10 trips, back and forth, doing the family laundry. My mother raised us to be independent. I had a day in the kitchen, you know, it got to a point, I was like a gourmet chef. Kenan and Damon would come home from California and I would run to the store with my brother Sean and we'd go get food and me and my gift to my brothers for being so good to us, I would always cook them something. I had my daddy's big drawers on because we were poor and my

brother is just like Keenan, you can see your little ding ding. Through the hole, because my father had these and we had a safety pin. And cause we was poor, and I would just be in there shuffling it up and cooking them french toasts, and Sean would always have that seat right next to Kenan, and I used to be so jealous, cause I used to want that seat, but I was busy cooking, you know what I mean?

That was my contribution. What was the typical meal like for 12, because your mom and dad, and you got 10 brothers and sisters in the house. So how much was being cooked? What was the typical meal like for 12? Because your mom and dad and you got 10 brothers and sisters in the house. So how much was being cooked? What was being cooked? Whatever we had.

Depends. Some days you had steak. Steak? We had chuck. They wanted it. Come on, man. It wasn't no sirloin. Wasn't no wagyu.

No ribeye. Ain't no A5-1. None. It was chuck, ground chuck. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, She came back and she had this vegan diet. My father was like, that's a great idea. So now we was vegan and everything was rice. And he would look in the closet and there'd be nothing in there. And he'd be like, whatever it was. We have some string beans. We got some cornbread.

And we got some lard. All right, and rice. We're going to have a nice cornbread string bean lard rice. That was it. We'll mix it up a nice cornbread string bean lard rice. That was it. Mix it up. Me and my brothers are so poor. I remember one time, my sister Nadia created this meal called

mula mush. And it was basically flour, salt, pepper, water, and lard. And you cook it up and you make it like a little pancake. And we call it moolah mush. We didn't have the good cereal, the moment that you have like, you know, frosted flake. Nigga puffs, wheat puffs. Like it wasn't sugar crisp.

In the bag, the big ass bag, it wasn't super sugar crisp. No, we had The big ass bag. It wasn't sugar, super sugar crisp. No, we had the dry ones that you had to add the sugar in till your milk got gray. Like, we grew up poor. I wouldn't take back my childhood for nothing. As hard as it was, you know what we had? We had love.

And when children have love and they have that security, and I had something that a lot of people on my block didn't have, I had a mother that cared for us, and I had something that a lot of people on my block didn't have I had a mother that Care for us and I had a father The importance of a father a man that is there there was times I'd be like nigga. Why don't you leave? Negro out every day. I thought my father's name was motherfucker until I was like nine years old Hey motherfucker, got this get some money for school please? My mother, frustration, poverty,

a lot of her arguments was poverty make people argue. So it was the security and my mother wanted was best for her children. I'm not mad at my mama for arguing with my daddy. I just accept on school night, say this shit for the weekend so I can. So I can get a good night rest for school. And you wonder why I'm bringing home these.

And so my parents argued a lot, but they stayed together. And I think that that was important for my family. Growing up in the projects where there's a lot of broken families, the difference between my family and a lot of families out there. We had a father and a mother. My mother used to watch us from the window sill.

There's a black window sill. My mama had black elbows. Light-skinned woman, black elbow. Why? Because my mother would sit there on the window sill with her elbows and watch her babies play all day. All day. Kenan, don't do that.

Don't cross that street like that. Sean, nope, don't you fight that boy. You know he too big for you. Damon, don't you kick that cat. What if that cat kicked you? Would you like that? My mother would discipline us from the window because she can't.

My father, we knew, we had the answer to two things we had to answer to. My father and God. And we feared my father more because God don't have a belt. My father, he went by that so bad that his belt was tired. His belt was like, and I hate when he pull out that ironing cord. I used to hate that, but we used to always laugh. We used to listen to each other get our ass whooped. And then my sister, we'd come out crying and we'd have welts all over us.

And my sister be like, well, that's all I got to say. Hey man, this a real fire, it's hot. Well, we knew you were gonna come out. I didn't know it was a real fire. I thought that was like some. No, no, that's not, that's hot. Well we knew you were gonna come out. I didn't know it was a real fire, I thought that was like some. No, no, that's not, that's real. One of them bullshit ones in campus, you got a real ass fire here.

Maybe it's the eating, what's this called? Chez Balaporte. It's the Chez Balaporte, that's what it is. Let me ask you this. How different do you think, how different do you think your life would have been had you not had nine other brothers and sisters including yourself.

Let's just say for the sake of argument you got four. Do you think, because I think it was really hard, your dad probably, you say they argued a little bit, I don't know how much, but let's just say for the sake of argument there's only three kids. Do you think it would have probably been easier with the argument your father to leave but because he's like I can't leave this woman With two kids my father went left with three kids my father my father was a God raised my father. Yeah, my father didn't have a father like that

Okay, you know God raised my father to the point to where my father knew the Bible so well He could quote scripture. I need a scripture on love Corinthians 13 7 chapter 4 love is patient. Love is kind. Look my father knew that book He cuz and I why he said because God's in that book and my father died He said if you ever want to know me Get to know my father whenever you miss me I'm in that book right there. So sometimes at night when I can't sleep, because my daddy gone, I picked that book up. And those words screamed to me as my father

talking to me. And my mother was different. My mother was like, she wasn't your witness. My mother was like, she's Baptist. And mama's been telling me, No, let me tell you some God ain't just in that book Cuz she his Bible was like the king now it wasn't like cuz you know, Joe witness got their own version Yes, you know, it's translated my mother like no the King James version. What about the Quran? What about this God in every book? So if you ever want to find me and I'm gone I ain't Justin Bob. I'm in every book. So if you ever want to find me and I'm gone, I ain't Justin Bob.

I'm in every book. So now, I can't even pick up green eggs and ham. And I, you know what I'm saying? Mama in that book too, ham. Ham, ma spelled backwards. When I look at you, for the most part. So my father wouldn't have left no matter what.

One kid, 10 kids, 15 he's there. Let me tell you something, my daddy, Howard Wayans was a man. So much so that my daddy raised kings. You know, we are successful because we was raised right. We had a mother that loved us and a father that protected us and respected, and we had something to answer to besides them, God, my parents did a great job. How do you get all these successful children?

My parents did a great job, and then Kenan was the pioneer to go, this is what we could do. But my parents, Howell Wayans and Avira Wayans, they were them. I have a special good grief on Amazon Prime right now where I pay homage to my parents. And you know, that was a very hard time losing my parents. Kill me, broke me up.

How about this? Did you have an appreciation for your parents then like you do now? Because a lot of times when you're going through it, you then, they're telling you things, man, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm a kid, you know, so forth and so on. I don't think I had the appreciation. I understood what my grandmother, my grandfather was doing for me, but I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a kid, you know so forth and so on I Don't think I had the appreciation. I understood what my grandmother my grandfather was doing for me

But I don't I didn't get an appreciation of true appreciation Till I left the house and I got on my own and I could hear everything they had ever said to me as a child Being replayed in my head. I think in some cases. Yes, I think that uh Like my mother used to always give us business advice Okay, my mother would be like you gotta buy this you gotta buy real estate you have and she my mother talk She told you like this About when my mama talked it was just very annoying and I just be like I don't like the way you said it You know me like you know you right?

She'd be like you see that house that abandoned building Kenan you need to buy that She'd be like, you see that house, that abandoned building, Keenan, you need to buy that. Marlon, you see that crack house right there? That crack house is gonna be worth millions. You see that abandoned building where the prostitutes is coming out of? Damon, you need to buy that. She'd tell us this in New York City

in the Meatpacking District. Do you know what them crack houses is now? Townhouses that's worth 15 million dollars. You know those buildings that was probably worth a million dollars that the prostitutes was sucking ding-a-ling in? That building's probably worth 50 million dollars. My mother was brilliant.

My parents were very smart and I always respected my parents because my daddy taught me a scripture in the Bible And I'm actually get a tattoo across my chest you honor thy mother and father for thy days on this earth will be longer And what that scripture means is basically man Trust that God gave you great parents Trust that whatever journey they gave you that you got to honor them I don't care if your daddy wasn't in your life. Maybe your daddy knew he wasn't shit and he decided to go, but at least he made you. Even in that case, I'd be grateful for my father. The scripture

is just about being grateful and honoring. I honor my parents now with my walk as a father. I honor them. I take care of my kids. I'm a man I am a man my brothers are men my father raised good men My mother raised good women and good men and we take pride in our family You know I mean and I honor my parents and I always have to the point when my mom lived on the west coast I'd fly home every Monday After gig, I don fly home every Monday. After a gig, I don't care where I was in the world.

I'd fly home after a gig. I'd be tired as shit. Soon as I get off the plane, hey, woman, get dressed. We going on a date. Oh, where we going? Don't worry, we going. I want some steak. All right, well, let's go get some steak.

I want that wagyu. It's wagyu, ma. I don't care what it is. I know it's $250 a steak. I go take her to eat, I pick her up, and my mother, you put her walker down, and she put all that 270 pounds on me, and I'm walking lopsided,

and my mother's walking with pride, like my baby got me. I put her in the car, or I throw in, because she was heavy, and then she would laugh. She'd be like, you always throwing me in the car. And I put my mother's seatbelt on her, I would snap it. I drive to the restaurant, I hold my mama's hand, we'd laugh, we'd talk. We'd get out that car, the valet would come

to open her door and pull out her cane. My mama said, no, no, don't do that. My son likes to take care of me. And then I would open the door for her, and then I would grab her, I would take, and she would hold me. We'd walk to the restaurant. We'd order her food.

I'd order her a little bit of sugar, just a pinch. I ordered something healthy, because she had diabetes, and then I'd take her home. And after I took her home, I'd drop her off. She'd make me go get a mail. My mother, she'd work the wheels off of me. Go get my mail. Come on, mama, you ain't got nothing

but sweepstakes and bills. I know, but I could win something one day. So I get her mail, and that would frustrate me. And I'd take her, and she'd get in the elevator, and I'd tell her when she get home. I'd say, when you get on that balcony, you come outside, let me see your face before I drive off. And I would sit there, and I'd wait till my mother came out,

and she'd be on the balcony like a little schoolgirl. I'm safe and to see her glow that she went on this date and this romantic date cuz my mother was on romantic my father unfortunately wasn't but her boys she raised us to be romantic and as soon as I pull off I'll get that phone call from my mama. I had a wonderful time. You sure know how to date a gal. You must get you a lot of ass, boy. I do all right, mama. I do all right.

So let me ask you, as far as dressing, because most of you guys are kind of very similar in stature. It's not like one is 6'5", 300 pounds, and the other is 5, seven, 135. So you probably was wearing Dwayne and Kenan and Damon. So did you get any new clothes? And this Damon's right here. This Shawn, these Kenan shoes. I feel like I'm on shoes. No, sometimes I would, my mother on Easter, she would scrounge up some money and give us like $100 to go get our own little Easter house.

Okay. So that, and then my dad would give us a little bit of money for like school clothes, but only in the beginning of school. And it was like, he'd give us like $32. And we have to go get three outfits. I mean one time me and Sean's was like, get the outfits.

This one, Shelto Adidas was back, out. We came out, Shelto Adidas, we were so happy. And my dad said, where's the rest of the clothes? We were wearing what we got. We always wear hand-me-downs anyway, but take those back to the store now. Took them back to the store. We came back with the Ditas with no shells.

And we had a pair of pants, and we had, you know, we feelin' out, so we had a shirt now, okay, and we thought my dad'd be happy. Where's the rest of the clothes? We got these clothes. This is all the outfit. We wear this five days a week. And we thought my dad be happy. Where's the rest of the clothes? We got the clothes, this is all the outfit. We wear this five days a week. We'll swap me and Sean.

Now, he took us down to the supermarket and got us those Freezer sneakers. You know the ones that be by them in the meat section? Them big boys? They sell sneakers in the supermarket and these had no grip. They had, man, we, man, they had no, we had no arch support.

These shoes, and we wore the brakes off these shoes, and when he bought us corduroy pants, we had like 13 outfits. And some shitty shoes. And so that's why, as a grown man, like I don't own a lot of jewelry and things like that. I own a lot of clothes. I buy clothes and shoes. I own 1500... Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast,

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This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, I am joined by the greatest Alpine skier of all time, Michaela Schiffrin. Michaela talks about the ski accident that changed everything for her, performing while going through grief, and what it's like to release the pressure of being the GOAT, and so much more.

Like, I have no right to be winning this race. I really probably shouldn't even be doing it, but I'm here, so I will win. Listen to this episode of Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Underpants, sneakers, and I own a lot of clothes. I used to work in clothing stores, because I used to dream.

I worked in Barneys, New York. I worked in Footlock. I worked in US Athletics. I used to work in clothing stores, because I used to dream. I worked in Barneys, New York. I worked in Footlock. I worked in US Athletics. I worked in Athletes Foot. I loved clothing, right, my whole life. I loved clothing, because I was like, one day when I get money, I'm gonna dress nice. And then, and now I have like a lot of clothes,

and now I'm 52, and I'm like, I don't want none of this shit. I'm selling all my clothes. I'm getting rid of all my sneakers. I want to live a minimalist lifestyle because I just want to enjoy the really valuable things in life, which is life, not stuff. I can't take stuff with me. None of that I can take to heaven. I just want to enjoy, collect as many smiles as I can, do as much great work as I can,

grow as an artist, a man, grow spiritually, and just become the best version of Marlon that I could be. When did you realize that all those sneakers, all those clothing didn't really make Marlon Wayans happy? When did you have that epiphany? Where were you at when you sat down and was like, damn, I got all of these shoes, I got 1,500 pair, I got clothing, this, got this, whatever.

I ain't happy with this ish. I think when my parents died, when my parents died it gave me a clarity of what real, yeah, what life really means none of that stuff means anything you can't take it with you my parents my mother collected everything she has all the pictures she can't take it with her the only thing she could take with her is the smiles that's all the love that's all that stuff it don't mean no. Who we trying to impress?

That's not going to do nothing. You know what I'm trying to leave behind? Smiles. So that's why when I'm on a set and I'm doing comedy, yeah, I will do absolutely anything damn near. Light myself on fire for a laugh. Because when I'm gone, I'm leaving behind smiles. And every time somebody smile on something I did that was classic, that's why I don't make comedies. We try to make classics. 30 years later, you could watch a Wayans Brothers something, and you still gonna laugh like it's your first time seeing it because we don't do jokes, we do classics.

I want to leave behind that is the legacy, smiles. I watch I Love Lucy, and I smile. I watch The Honeymoolers, I smile. I watch the honeymoon list, I smile. I watch, you know, all these great artists, you know, and I prior, I watch his specials and I smile and I laugh and they're living through that. So those are the things that's important to me, not stuff. To the point, Shannon, I got Rob.

And... I got robbed. And it's funny. I realized I ain't got shit. There was nothing to take. They bring you coffee, you got mad. These niggas should have bought me something. Came over and gave me, here, at least take this bottle, man. I didn't have shit. You, you know what they took?

My guns, that's all they took was my guns. The guns I would have shot them with. Yeah, you've been home. I've been home. It's the only thing they took because I ain't got shit. I ain't got no watches. I ain't got no chains.

I ain't got shit. Everything in my house that's valuable is heavy. You could take the house, go for it. Put that on a flatbed truck, go for it. You won my G, but I ain't got shit. But the only thing that's valuable to me is the smiles and the lives. And those are things I'ma die for.

I don't care about the stuff. Take all them sneakers. I don't give a half. I'll put them in boxes for you. Lean by front, take them. Trying to get rid of all this bullshit cuz none of it means Anything ain't got nothing. I got the valuable things. I got these smiles. I got these laughs. I got these jokes Were you guys always funny did where did you get that sense of humor? Is it your mom? Is it your dad because

It's hard to have so many people for one family and all of you are comics, comedians, you tell stories. Did you guys always have this ability? Honestly, yes. Everybody in my family is funny. I got four sisters y'all ain't never seen. These women are Hilarious like you could just sit around them. They funny as hell and they ain't got a worry about getting canceled. So they say what?

Fuck on a mind they just say it they funny man. My mother was brilliant My mother was the funniest person. I my mother could walk in a room Assess the room and like the Terminator, she sees every flaw that you have. And in a snap, she could talk about you like a dog. She'd smile all over your face. As soon as you walk away, yeah, that bitch, you know. She had the jokes. She had the jokes. And my was silly and I but he was

annoying right but he wasn't funny he was silly and so I think what happened was my father was being silly he got on my mother's nerves she cursed him out and that was funny then they had sex and then they made us and that's the formula for how the way angels was crafted but then and then they made us and that's the formula for how the way it was crafted. But then everybody in my house was funny and then Kenan showed us he unlocked the superpower. It was like oh when I saw Kenan on the Tonight Show, Johnny Carson, I was maybe six and my brother we had a black and white tv with an antenna that was broken, with knobs that wasn't working. We had to turn it with a can opener

that we put on it or pliers. Pliers. Yes. And we had a hanger hanging out of it. My whole family in the kitchen gathered around this table looking at Keenan on Johnny Carson. And then after Keenan did his set, Johnny Carson called him to the couch. Because that's when NBC, Johnny was like, he's funny.

And when he called you to the couch, you was getting a deal. So when Keenan got called to the couch, man, it was like we won the lotto. We was like, yes, Lord! It was like something out of Good Times. Oh Lord, we done did it, damn, damn, damn! And we were so proud, but in my head as a little boy,

I sat there and was like, oh my God. Because I used to have dreams of doing it, but I was like, oh my God, you mean, I can actually have a dream and I can make it happen? My brother is on TV right now. And right then and there was like, I don't have to dream no more. This is my new reality. So from then, me and Sean, we've been studying comedy since we was five and six years old. We watched The Honeymooners.

We watched Aberdeen Costello every Sunday. We watch the Three Stooges. We watch everything. Because we used to dream, one day we gonna have our own TV show. Right. And one day we had our own TV show because my brother showed us that we could do it. And then the dream's his reality.

Simple. Was Kenan always one of your biggest role models? Because I tell people all the time, I never looked outside of my house for a role model. I had my brother and I had my grandfather. That's what I said. So every man, the only man that I ever wanted to be like was my brother and my grandfather.

Absolutely. I am the luckiest kid alive. You know, I grew up in a house with five legends. All the people I wanted to be like was in my household. Keenan, Damon, Kim, Damon, my mother, my father, my big sisters, you know, Deidre, Avira, Devon, Nadia. They all, Kim, they all raise me.

And I'm so lucky that I had those examples in front of me and to be the baby, because I get to go, I'm gonna do like that, I ain't gonna do that. I'm gonna do that Hollywood thing. That crack thing, I don't think that's a good thing. Crack didn't work out good for Dwayne. Worked it, but that's just acting thing for Kenan, boom. I get to make the choices of what works and what don't work.

But even my big brother Dwayne, we were lucky. All my heroes was in my household. And I always say, how lucky am I? If you was there, people can die and come back as something. I suggest you came back as me I Had a stellar childhood. I knew Eddie Murphy came to my projects when I was eight years old We said near Eddie Murphy the biggest star in the world because Kenan would had was working with him on raw and he had a Deal over at Eddie Murphy production, right?

So Eddie Murphy was in our house. I remember he had these cow skin pants on. And every time he sat down, me and my brother Sean were going, move. You going to move for some steak tonight, Sean? And we cracking jokes that my nephew Craig just kept punching Eddie in the stomach. And Eddie was like, hey, Kenan, come get this kid.

And we snapped on Eddie all night. And God bless Eddie Murphy. God bless that man, because his pants cost more than everything in my household, including us. But he never struck back. He gave us autographs. You know, he said to Marlon, go be great, to Sean, be free, to Craig, when you get older, I'ma punch you in your face.

I've known Robert Townsend, still like a big brother. I've known Robert since I was like seven, eight years old. You know what I mean? I had legends in my household. He used to come over and play a fake trumpet. The first time I was ever on stage, we was out in California visiting my brother, Kenan. He flew us out one winter on an airline.

We first started getting money. He had a little house in Hollywood on Fountain, and he put us on this plane. We ain't never been on a plane before. All we knew was the projects. He put us on this plane, CSUN airline. It wasn't nothing. He didn't put us on Delta.

It wasn't American Airlines. He put us on CSUN airline. It wasn't nothing. Nigga didn't put us on Delta. It wasn't American Airlines. He put us on CSUN airline, which is basically like the spirit's little broke ass brother. We get on an airplane, and it takes off, and the wing catches fire. And then the other wing catches fire. And we ain't never been on a plane before. We looking out the window like,

hey guys, look at the jets. It's on fire. No, we didn't know it was on fire. We thought that's how it's supposed to be. We was like, this is a rocket ship. Everybody put a piece of sheet but I wasn't gonna make an emergency landing. Damn.

That was your first time on a plane, is that what happened? Yes, but we didn't know. We thought that was supposed to happen. a plane and that's what happened. Yes. But we didn't know. We thought that was supposed to happen. And then we came out to California. Robert was doing a set at the improv and he was doing this character, uncle character, old man.

And he brought me, my nephew Damien, my nephew Craig, and my brother Sean on the stage and he did this sketch with us. And those are like great memories. and my brother Sean on the stage and he did this sketch with us and that's like those are like great memories like I grew up on a set of Robert Townsend's Partners in Crime he would give us jobs he would let us write sketches I'm writing sketches at 12 13 years old I'm featured in a sketch we had easy listening hip-hop you know there he let us be in sketches. I met John Witherspoon. John Witherspoon was playing the drunk

in the cowboy scene. And he was like, niggas is coming. And he was running. We was like, that's a funny dude. When we get a show, that's gonna be our father. I had a wonderful childhood. I can only do legendary things because I grew up, I was raised by legends.

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So what was your- Actually, no, not too young. Kenan was about, I think when it all started happening for Kenan. How much older is Kenan than you? 15. 15 years. 15 years, so he's 67. Yeah. So when you're like So he's 24?

25 when you... Yeah, he's about 27. When he really hit was like 28, 30 when he did I'm gonna get you sucker and then when Living Color, you know hit he was just right off. So what were you like in high school? Got a big brother that's making... But he's having not the success like he had have a living color not the success that he has I'm gonna get your sucker But he's having some level of success. What were you like in school? Did you like man? My brick brother in Hollywood later for y'all. I Was cocky I Knew I was gonna make it. I knew I was gonna make it like in high school

Especially come high school and I was in performing arts high school. Okay knew I was gonna make it. Like in high school especially. Come high school, and I was in Performing Arts High School. You know, it's funny, like, yes. My brothers was famous by the time I got to high school. They were doing stuff. Hollywood Shuffle came out my freshman year of high school. And I remember, because I went to Performing Arts High School, and my dad, Joe Witness, he was a homophobe. He didn't want me to go to Performing school because he was watching Fame yeah okay this nigga

thought I was gonna be Leroy like he don't want me wearing tights and I don't know why aren't you doing that and he said you can't go to that school and my brother Kenan he was about your size at the time he said he's gonna go to that school he said he's not going to our audition. He said, I'm not gonna let your homophobia stop that little man's dreams. He's gonna go to that audition. And if he gets in, he's gonna go. If not, then you're gonna have to answer to me.

And I got into school. And that was the day I realized my dad was a bitch ass nigga Yeah, so yeah, I had a level of confidence, you know, I wouldn't say cockiness I just knew I knew what it was gonna be I knew my brothers were successful Hollywood shuffle Shuffle, then I'ma get you Sucko. He's with her. I'ma get you Sucko Jacket in school. My friend Omar Epps used to borrow it from me. You know, like, I remember, like, going to college.

I'm in college. I'm at Howard University. And Living Colors on the air. I'm in Living Colors, brother, at a black university. Sunday comes And everybody stops what they're doing. We run like roaches We've ran run to our everybody front of the TV and watch that TV and then when it's done Came out laughing and we talked about it and those was mine so much so that the professor is sometime at Howard This is why I left. Well, there's a lot of stress, you know, they'd be teaching all these Classes and black, you know, let's talk about menstruals and buffoonery.

It live in color, is it a modern day menstrual? You know, put this, is it marlin? And I'm like, you put me on blast in school and I'm like, then after class, brother wanna hand me a script, here, can you get that to Kenan for me? Oh, he gonna try to clown you in front of the clan. Then give me a script.

You don't get your ass outta here. That's the way you left? I've been, I read your GPA wasn't that up to standard. No, first I'll, let me take a shot. I'll keep it real. We gonna talk about some hard questions, you know? Let me get a shot of this. I will tell you, my GPA, I was very smart until I got to college.

And it wasn't that I wasn't smart, it's just I didn't apply myself. My first semester, I got a 1.6 in classes. How did you get? 1.6, but I had a 3.8 and partying. Right? I could party my ass off. I learned how much to drink, how many hits to the weed before I made me dizzy with the combination.

You know what I mean? Who's going to give me some? Who wasn't? I remember I bought that great home and Keenan said, Keenan was paying for my college. He said, all right, well, you ain't going to mess up my money. You pay for your own college now. I said, what? I start sweating.

I was like, oh shit, I gotta pay for my own college. And so from then on, I pulled in 3.6s because it was my money. I wasn't gonna mess that money up. And the reason why I left wasn't because, first of all, my brother hated the fact that I went to college. They was like, come join the family business come join the family business

We have a living color on the air. My brother Sean was like, yo, let's do our sketches. Let's do this I I was like I said no, I Said no, I said love you But I gotta be me. Mm-hmm. If I do it y'all way, I can't be me. If I do it your way, I can't be me. You know how hard it is to come after Kenan Ivey Wayans, Damon Wayans, Kim Wayans, Sean Wayans, and Marlon. And the only thing that I had was my own life experience, I had to do my thing differently. So I wanted to go to Howard to learn to be a man

outside of my brothers to be my own. For me, it was like Michael from the Godfather going to the army. I know there's a purpose for why I'm going to do this, but I need to go do this for me. And I remember I wrote my brother Sean like a 10-page letter. And I was so sad because I knew what we were supposed to do. But I knew he thought I was going back for a girl.

And I was like, no, I'm going back to getting Marlon. And so I went back, I got a 3.6 GPA, I did some film projects, and I was like, all right. Then I got Mo Money. And people think I was gifted Mo Money. I wasn't, I wasn't even on the list. Right. Damon wanted Kadeem Hardison.

Right. Now mind you, I'm auditioning for stuff. I'm getting movies and turning them down. I like five movies turn them down to go back to school then that more money audition came and Damon was like look nigga I don't want you I mean you could work but I ain't gonna get your hopes up high now you committing suicide when you don't get this part. He said, I want Khadim Harrison, but Khadim, he's doing a different world, and I ain't got different world money.

And then, so there's this kid, Claude Brooks. He got little ears, but he looks like me. He got pretzel ears, but he looks like me, and the studio likes him. So if you want to come in, you better come with that thunder." And he said, no, I don't want you to worry about making these white boys laugh. Don't worry about the studio. You worry about making this nigga laugh because I don't find nothing funny. And I knew what that meant.

In order to make Damon laugh, he wrote his words. Damon wanted me to bring the writer out. So I had to sit there and punch up what he wrote. And if you look at my script for Mo Money, I had all these different notes. Never the black, always the red, never the, I came up with all these improvs. I barely did anything on the script.

And when I, and Omar was on the, Omar Epps, my best friend to this day, came on the audition with me. He was like, you got this. He's like, I don't even, came on the audition with me. He was like, you got this. He's like, I don't even know why the fuck I auditioned. He's like, this is yours. I went in that audition, I blazed it. And Dane was like, he never gives you credit.

He goes, I said, was it funny? He goes, you made the white boys laugh. And you got the part. And I was like, oh shit. And that's when I left Howard, because I was like, I'm on my way to do what I love to do for a living. And I'm making money doing it. And that's when I was like, fuck your school. In the beginning. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal.

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Listen to the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Hamler, I am joined by the greatest alpine skier of all time, Michaela Schiffrin. Michaela talks about the ski accident that changed everything for her, performing while going through grief, and what it's like to release the pressure of being the GOAT, and so much more. It's like I have no right to be winning this race.

I really probably shouldn't even be doing it, but I'm here, so I will win. Listen to this episode of Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Did people feel that you got roles or Sean got roles or anybody in the family got roles because of your big brother? To this day. And I laugh. They still don't want to give you credit for what the work that you put in? No, they just, you know, haters gonna hate. Haters is gonna hate.

Hate is a business. It's a big business in hate. You can hate, but you can't discredit my accolades. You don't know my journey. You don't know, I wasn't just some dude that got put into stuff. I need you to go look at the credits. I've been writing movies since I was 19 years old. Me and Sean created

Wayans Brothers when we was like 20, 22. Don't Be a Menace, scary movie. Me and Sean and Kenan wrote that. Scary movie 2, me and Sean and Kenan with a few other writers. But these are ideas that we came up with. Sean came up with a few other writers, but these are ideas That we came up with Sean came up with a lot of these ideas scary movies like don't be a minute Sean came up with scary Sean don't get enough credit scary movie. Don't be a minute white chicks. Those are Sean's ideas me I'm an executor. We executed together. I know funny characters. I know how to do situations We all have gifts and Kenan he knows how to put it all together and see it from a macro point of view and work the shit out you Let me tell you something They can hate all they want all my brothers do was let me

opportunity and That's a gift and a curse because when you're our age see they came up Because when you're our age see they came up you got 30 years 20 years to make it and And comedy you found your point of view you've been on a stage You know how to make people laugh you can sit on the couch and you can make people laugh when you're doing Johnny Carson You can go in any room and kill it you can you learn how to act you had 20 years and now finally you get This opportunity me and Sean didn't have 20 years. We got pushed into Hollywood, 17 and 18 years old, and all we had was instincts from being from a funny family. And then over time, that's why first season of Wayans,

brother, we was just too, we was just gunning. We didn't understand story, we didn't understand how to fix things. We just knew we were funny, we had to make it funny. And then season three, you watch it start. Yeah, because we started getting better, right? And then if you watch the progression of the movies, we started getting better.

Now at 52, I finally have 30 years in the business. So everything that I've done for me in all that learning, now is my time. You wanna judge me? I want you to judge me now, because I'm five specials in, working on my sixth one. I'm a different animal, because I'm not just a comedian. I'm a damn good actor.

I can act, I got pain. When y'all see my dramatic work that's coming this year, y'all gonna be like, yo, I'm telling you, now I have 10,000 hours logged in five different disciplines. I'm a be a, I'm a monster right now, bro. Like, and I see it. I could do characters. I could do deep character. I can do characters dramatically.

I could do them funny. I can do so much. And now I'm gonna showcase all that. Everything else was learning. I could do them funny. I can I can do so much and now I'm gonna showcase all that everything else was learning. So yes, my brothers gave me opportunity But there was a gift and a curse it was a very hard ride for me and Sean and you know What got us through is our work ethic because my brothers wasn't easy on us. My brother we got to a living color they was like We ain't writing for Kenan's little talented brothers. And this Kenan Damon saying that shit. I'm serious. Me and Sean,

we every sketch on living color, the death jam sketch, Shaba ranks Mr. Ugly Man, me and Sean stayed up, Snuff and Rome stayed up. We spent the night at In Living Color learning to write. Spent the night, because nobody would write for us. We spent the night there writing those sketches. And then when they got on, we had to go execute them. Nobody wrote for us.

We created our TV show. I remember when we left In Living Color, because Fox was syndicating the show when it was curtain keen in his pockets. And Keenan was like, nah, you ain't gonna do this to me. And my family said, fuck this money. And we all left and live in color. There's an episode of live in color

where we got black shades on. It's a Christmas episode. Jamie Foxx is singing. He's singing, "'Hang all the mistletoes, this Christmas. And me and my family, we got black glasses on, and we sitting there like this,

as a family. Because we protesting, and we going, you ain't gonna fuck my brother, we a family. You touch one, you touch all. Your money, I'm sorry. They was offering us big checks,

$70,000 checks to stay on that show I'm still a brother after this No, I'm gonna support my brother and we all have to show and that's why season 5 it got weird It got Bismarck II God bless Chris Rock. He came at the wrong time But as brilliant as he is you couldn't save it because the eyes of the show is gone. You understand? Heartbeat.

Yes, the eyes, the vision. You can't replicate Wayne's shit, and anytime they try, you're gonna fail. They've done other movies trying, you can't. People taste that shit, that ain't Wayne's. Can't do what we do because you ain't got my life experience. You don't have my point of view.

You didn't grow up with the people I grew up with you don't understand how life has carved me as a visionary You can't take the flavor. You can't run. I could give you all the seasoning, right? I'll give you all what's in it. You don't know how much to put you don't know what kind of I'll give you the right Flour, you know how long to cook that chicken. You don't know how much of that garlic powder you got to put in there I'll give you the hot sauce. It's Frank's how long to cook that chicken. You don't know how much of that garlic powder you gotta put in there. I gave you the hot sauce, it's Frank's. I ain't gonna make you be able to make my chicken. And that's what comedy is.

And with my brothers, when we left in Limit Color, I had $700 in the bank and $900 rent. I was broke. And me and my brother Sean was looking at each other like, what are we going to do now? My brother Sean was depressed. He was sitting in the room with lights out, and he played Christmas music.

Because whenever he'd get upset, because Christmas is a happy time, whenever he'd get upset, and he'd play that Christmas music. And I would come down with, we always had a bottle of Diet Pepsi, and we only had 120 ounce of Diet Pepsi, and I would come down with them. We always had a bottle of diet Pepsi and There's one that had 120 ounce of diet Pepsi and I would sit there like we did a limit color And I would he had a brand new computer and I was sitting there working on Wayne's Brothers And then one day he came out the room in his robe and he said

What you doing stupid? So I'm working on a TV show and the first thing he read was Interior outside he said stupid read was, interior, outside. He said, stupid, how you have interior, you outside? He said, move over. And then we sat down, we created our show, the Wayans Brothers. Nobody gave us nothing. And my brothers, when we did Don't Be Immunist, Kenan made us do 26 drafts. 26 drafts. And then the director, when we finally shot the movie, me and Sean would cry,

why we doing another draft? We gonna do it again and ain't ready yet. Then the director didn't get comedy, messed the movie up. We screened the movie, it got terrible ratings, Miramax is like, what are we gonna do? Keenan's like, I can fix it. I need a million dollars and I need 10 days of shooting. Bet. Keenan said, okay, I got the budget. I know what to do. Now you guys gotta write a movie.

What do you mean? We gotta write a whole new movie. We fucked this one up. And in one week, we had to write a whole damn new movie. So much so that I couldn't even think of anything. I took some hits of weed. Me and my boy got high like me and my boy Xav, I passed him the weed and he took it, he coughed

and he threw up, damn, and fell on the floor. And I looked at him and I said, hey nigga, pass that shit. And we put it in Don't Be a Menace. So we wrote all these different sketches the grandmas breakdancing All these different sketches that we don't get and jumped in that became the movie don't be a menace and hadn't we did the 26 Drafts prior to that we could have never showed up To put together that draft in seven days and do what became the classic don't be a menace, right?

in seven days and do what became the classic, Don't Be A Menace. Right. You said he made- Damn, I got stories. Hey, I need a second, damn. That was- Ah, I look at my face in the mirror and I don't know I'm this old.

You mentioned that Kenan made you write it. 26, rewrite it 26 times. Imagine, I can imagine the length of time that you and Sean spent coming up with the first script. Yeah. And then to rewrite it. Yeah. And to rewrite it.

Yeah. And then say, you know what, y'all messed it up again, so guess what, I got a million dollars from Merrimack and we gonna do it again. Yeah. Did you like, man, come on, Kenan, bro. The whole time. Like, just roll with it.

We wanted to fight this nigga. I was like, Sean, you get the legs. I'll kick him in the chest. We was so mad. But you look back and you go, oh, I see why Yoda made us do those things. And now we're Jedi's. Now I know how to do it.

Now I know, I sit there and I talk, me and Robert Townsend, we have talks, and Robert's like, damn little bro, you really, you really on your, yeah. And he's like, I'm so proud of you. And to hear that, you know, from my brother, my brother Kenan, I'm proud of you, you're doing great work. You know, I've worked my whole lifetime to be ablean, but I'm proud of you doing great work You know I work my whole lifetime to be able to hear I'm proud of you. You're doing great work My brothers don't they don't have that compliment. They don't laugh. I go how'd you like it?

They I put it on and when something funny happens, they're going that's funny Damon just goes Damon just goes, mm. And to hear them go, I'm proud of you. When he watched God Loves Me, Damon said, you know, ugly, you did something different. You took one topic, and you went in for a whole hour. He said, I don't think a lot of niggas are special, but that was special. He said, that made't think a lot of niggas is special, but that was special. He said, that made me, you inspired me.

I was, wow. And that's how I knew I was onto something. Keenan was like, Damon said, just special, it was brilliant. I watched it, and he was right. We said, good job, beautiful work. And so I know I'm doing the right thing, and it's not like, it's not an accident. I've been trained in ways that y'all don't even

They don't even know right? Yeah, I could tell you story at the store. I'm This is 33 years of cooking. I'm telling you this next level was we we go We go on for the shiny things. Yeah, they don't see Let's get back to Living Color. I didn't realize till we were researching this, In Living Color was only on four years. Yeah. That might've been the greatest four year run.

Ever. In the history. Ever. That show should still be on. That was a staple. That should've been an institution. Yes. It's an institution.

You know, it's funny is in living color I think Damon and Keenan were inspired by Saturday Night Live and I think Keenan was like they never have me on and Damon had just gotten fired from there he was like all right I'm gonna do take all this funny shit that I have them we're gonna do it on this show. And he took all these funny, crazy sketches that they wouldn't let him do on SNL. And they did it on Living Color.

And to this day, you know I've never done SNL? Really? I've done Daily Show, never. I guess I'm not hot enough. But, you know, I love the fact that I'm always gonna be a Living Color alumni, right? And one day, sometimes I look at God and I go, if that opportunity don't come for you, it's not for you.

And maybe it's God telling me, create my own show, do my own sketches, and I could, and I will. And I just feel like everything is God. When it don't happen, don't be mad God's writing your story. So trust them We had Tommy Davis alone dog that nigga Now we get into the good stuff I need another drink Actually, he said why you not drinking your own sauce? You got me up in here drinking your the juice, and you was sitting there watching me.

Okay, well, you, I ain't think you want a little, you know, let's toast. I'm gonna sip this one. To success, man, to success. Go talk. Shannon, let's have this thing up just so we can get some promotion too. Go back.

Yeah, right back, perfect. Yeah. Tommy said, should we light up a cigar? Hey, I don't think we can smoke in here. It's okay. Damn. All good. Tommy said, and I didn't realize- By the way, love Tommy Davidson. Big bro. Like, he, to me, underrated. That boy should have been one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Yeah. Tommy Davidson is brilliant. Let me tell you how dope Kenan is the fact that your eyes for talent

that you could make and see talent and Greatness and all these people you assembled on the cast Tommy Davidson Jim Carey David Alan career Jamie Kim Wayans, Kelly Cofield, Steve Parks, my brother Sean, me, even the babies, JLo. JLo was just like a dancer and a singer and Keaton was like, you should do more. You were, he knew she was special, knew it.

JLo, Carrie Ann Anaka, if you look at all the writers that made it from in living color and they would complain when he made him work But just like when we did those 26 drafts it prepared them for Their evolution and their greatness as writers because this is what you got to do You got to rewrite somebody has to work you and you may not like it and you may resent it But look at how you eat and Kenan was a visionary and Damon. That's what taught me the eyes Damon the most magical talent Him and my sister Kim, but Damon as a comedian

I used to watch this man go on stage and the first only thing he wanted to do was You go up there and you'll be like and go behind the curtain. I'm doing the invisible comic Watch as I scratch my nuts he would and he's just playing with the audience because he don't care. He's like I'm gonna use this time to say fuck you to the audience because Now I can create without your judgment. It's reason why Damon don do stand-up nowadays, he feels people are too judgmental. And he's right. You can't say it no more. I need to speak my mind.

Damon could do characters. Damon could do monologues. He tell you the joke, then show you the joke. He talked about his pain. Handicapped bully came from somewhere. Damon was born with a handicap. He had a club foot. And so he came out with Handyman,

which is from something that was painful. He created art. Damon is one of the most brilliant comedians ever. You know what I'm saying? I got to watch this. I watched Jim Carrey like TV. We'd tell him, do Jack Nicholson. He'd do this character, do that character. Do Vera DeMalo. He used to make us laugh.

Me and Sean, we'd be peeing ourselves. David L Lange one of the funniest dude you ever wanted me Kim Wayans What a special talent this is why I'm sometime in Hollywood. I get a little upset Because there's no way the Kim is like black Carol Burnett She's only marginalized by what Hollywood deems they want to make or they feel is a special talent to be celebrated. Kim Wayans is a great writer. She graduated from what you call with honors, Wesleyan University.

She's a brilliant writer, amazing actress. She has a brilliant one-woman show. When I tell you, I came from greatness. I know greatness. I was touched by greatness. And not in a perverted way. Y'all made fun of that man's foot. Y'all made fun of Damon's foot. Yeah, hell yeah.

Come on man, the man gotta. We call that shit a hockey puck, a golf club. Not even a good one, it's the P. Yeah, it's like a pitcher, a pitching wedge. Ha ha ha ha. Or the one that do, yeah we make fun of, but it's all we do. We talk shit, my whole family, we make fun of each other.

That's what we do, but we have a great sense of humor. But more than that, we have a great life. We laugh a lot. We laugh in our way through this lifetime. I hope other people do, but we have a great sense of humor. But more than that, we have a great life. We laugh a lot. We laugh in our way through this lifetime. I hope other people do, you know? And Living Color, Tommy said you guys dropped that during halftime of a Super Bowl. Got 20 million views.

And then the next thing you know, the Super Bowl and the following year, the NFL dropped Michael Jackson. Yes. What happened was, what happened was, Keenan and Eric Gold and those guys came up with the idea to do the halftime show, because they was doing, they had a band, marching bands playing.

Yeah. And Keenan was, and it was like Doritos, they got with Doritos, and I think Pepsi, somebody else. And they was like, we're going to steal the audience. And Living Color was at its biggest. Yes. And it was like, we're gonna steal the audience and living color was at his biggest. Yes. And it was like, we gonna take that audience and bring them to a living color and did a special living color halftime show. All the viewers scattered, left in the Super Bowl, went to Fox, watched this hilarious live in living color episode, Damon got in some trouble. He always gonna improv something weird.

He said some joke about Carl Lewis. I think to this day, Carl Lewis is still mad. David I agree, I said, homie, he's gonna long jump into your asshole. And yeah, so we stole the audience. And the next year There might there was like y'all ain't never doing that again They paid the biggest star in the world to come do the halftime show was that you do you think that was the beginning?

Of a halftime show as we know for the absolutely Absolutely. So hey, man All you guys make usher Dr. Dre, JLo, all you people that are doing the Halftime show. Hope you got a big check. Thank you, Kenan. Thank you, In Living Color. Do you think, like, when I look at Saturday Night Live and I look at In Living Color, and you said because Kenan, you know, I think Keenan was on there once, wasn't he? Wasn't he on there in that line?

Oh, nope. No, and Damon, you said Damon. Damon was on it. Damon was on it, he got in the. And baby, see, that's why, see Damon was bad. That's why when I went to, I used to go to school, and they immediately put me in detention. I was like, why would you put me, damn!

Because that's, we saw what Damon did. If you're anything, if you're anything like that, nigger, then you take that seat. Damon was bad. And I think on Saturday Night Live, he was bad. He did a character that he wasn't supposed to do. Right. And missed the monopoly.

I remember the sketch. And we was like, why is Damon doing that character? Because he was tired of not being able to do him. And he got fired for that. Wow. And so I don't think, I I think after that he was actually allowed to host again And I think once again He did something he wasn't supposed to do Day with crazy, but he brilliant sometimes man bring people it works for him, man. He's brilliant

I would never put a chain on Damon. Let Damon be free. Damon is a magical unicorn, man. He's so talented, so funny. His instincts are great. Love my brother, man. He taught me the stage. He taught me not to be afraid of that stage.

This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted, and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listened to part one on. Just simply go back to club Shae Shae profile and I'll see you there. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone.

So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, it's Michael Lewis, author of Going Infinite, Moneyball, The Blind Side, and Liar's Poker. On the latest season of my podcast, Against the Rules, I'm exploring what it means to be a sports fan in America and what the rise of sports betting is doing to our teams, our states, and ourselves. Join me and listen to Against the Rules on America's number one podcast network, iHeart.

Open your free iHeart app and search Against the Rules. Listen to Against the Rules on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is Michael Rapoport and I have been professionally podcasting for 10 years. The podcast game has changed so much and if you're looking for the most disruptive podcast in the world, then subscribe to the I Am Rapoport Stereo Podcast today. podcast.