The Breakfast Club - Best Of Full Interview: Damon Wayans Jr. On Making His Own Name, Resurgence Of Black Sitcoms, Dad's Discipline + More

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

Best of 2024 - Recorded October 2024 - Damon Wayans Jr. On Making His Own Name, Resurgence Of Black Sitcoms, Dad's Discipline. Listen For More!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Follow us on the iHeart radio app app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning everybody, it's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. Jess is on maternity leave, so Lauren LaRosa is filling in. And we got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, we have Damon Wayans Jr. Welcome. Thank you, boss. Thank you, man.

How you feeling, brother? I'm feeling all right. You all right? When did Jess have a baby? Like three years ago? Oh, geez. No, no, no. It's been like two months.

It's been about two months ago. Two, three months ago. Congratulations, Jess. Two months. It's on maternity leave, so we'll be back shortly. That's great. Listen, I always want to ask the Williams, right? Are you born into the Illuminati

or you have to earn your spot like everybody else? They're Illuminati. You definitely don't get hazed. They definitely walk you right in. No, I don't know. I don't know about Illuminati. Yeah. No, man.

How you get there? Illuminati. I had to earn my spot. You did? But I'm saying, y'all been successful for so long. Oh, so success means Illuminati. I had to earn my spot. You did? What I'm saying, y'all been successful for so long. Oh, so success means illuminati. You know that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Come on. It takes, you know, yeah, you kind of just walk in at this point. Yeah. But, you know, I'm a conspiracy theorist, so. Yeah. I don't really fuck with illuminati. Yeah.

I thought the conspiracy theorist did, like, the whole illuminati. Isn thought the conspiracy theory, the conspiracy theorists did like the whole Illuminati. Isn't that a conspiracy? What? The Illuminati. The Illuminati is a conspiracy. Yeah, but. I don't attach myself to that. Oh, gosh.

They been like, what the fuck are we talking about? Yeah, I'm like, hold on. I thought you said I'm a conspiracy theorist. I'm like, that's what y'all do. No, no, yeah, yeah. That Illuminati talk. You know, I'll be on YouTube. I'll be looking at some videos.

So what is the conspiracies about the Wayans brothers? How has the Wayans family been so successful for so long? I don't know if there's a conspiracy. I think it's just family working together. I feel like that's what we all should be doing. Absolutely. You know what I mean? I feel like black people learn best by example. And so you have a bunch of examples

and you just copy them. Let's talk about the pressure of being- Hold on, did you study every member of your family? Like did you watch everything Keenan was in? Did you watch everything your dad was in? Did you watch everything Marlon was in? Like I'm talking about since you was a child, like did you study everything that they did?

I mean, I watched the stuff that I liked. Like there was ones I skipped. What'd you skip? What'd you skip? was ones I skipped. What did you skip? What did you skip? What did you skip? Glimmer Man. I don't remember Glimmer Man. I don't remember The Glimmer Man.

My dad, my uncle Kenan did a movie with Steven Seagal. Glimmer Man. Is that what it's called? I don't know. I don't remember that one. Me either. Was that a play for Blake Man? No, no.

I watched Blake Man. You was in it. Cause I was in it, yeah. We just got a picture of you in it. Oh my God, dude. Is that gonna be in there? That's crazy. No, that's so cool. Yeah, we, he picked. Did you see Glimmer Man?

I don't even know what you're talking about. I'm gonna give this up. They pulled it down? The Glimmer Man, it wasn't Glimmer Man. I don't remember this one. I definitely don't remember Glimmer Man. 1996, I missed that one. Yeah, man.

Yeah. I like the comedy. A lot of people did. Yeah, I like the comedies. Yeah, I like Don't Be A Menace is one of my favorites. Classic. Love, Major Payne. Classic. That's my favorite.

I love, what was it, movie with Jada Pinkett and Michael Keenan. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, man. Lord of the Nudity Shane. Lord of the Nudity Shane, man. So I love those, those look like my top. Classics. Yeah, yeah, and Blank Man, because I was in there. Blank Man. So I love those, those look like my top. Classics.

Yeah, and Blank Man, cause I was in there. So who the everyday working class wins? Everyday working class? Any everyday working class? We got a bunch of working class wins. We got a big ass family, so there's like a lot of people that are just as funny as everybody, but they just don't feel like, you know,

going through the Hollywood shit. But do they just work, do they work on the set, or do they have Blank Man? We have some that work on the set. You know, we got- I the set. You know we got. I love it. Yeah we got, we got Uncle Sean's writing on the show. Who works on Papa's house.

Yeah. Aunt Kim. She's a show runner. Yeah, how you know all this? Oh yeah cause Marlon Juan is good. I was gonna act like I knew it too. This nigga lived here. This guy.

He lived here. You know I got my daughter works on the set. She's a standing for Essence Adkins character. Wow. And she be writing on the show too. She's great. That's it. Yeah, she's dope.

Now we got to talk about the pressures of being a Wans. I mean, because- Is there pressure though? Pops, uncle, family, cousins, like- Yeah. Is there any pressure? No, I don't feel like there's pressure. I mean, maybe in the beginning, in the beginning,

it was like I used to have an alias when I went on stage, Kyle Green. Really? Yeah. And no one guessed it? You look just like your pops. No one ever looked like Wayne. You look like the Wayans family. Just like your pops.

No, like the middle of my punchline was like, you look just like your damn daddy. And so I had to change it just to Damon, you know? But really I was just trying to get my bearings, you know? I was trying to like get stage and I'd be like, come on to the stage, Damon Waynes, son. So that's why. Have you never got something because you were Waynes?

Like it was like, yeah, you're part of the family now. Maybe, I don't know. That's all that behind the scenes stuff. But they let you in. They'll let you in just because they want to see you. They'll be like, oh, Damon Waynes, son. When I first started, so I you in, they'll let you in just because they wanna see you. You know, they'll be like, oh, Damon Williams, when I first started. So I got in some rooms, and shout out to my family

for making it easier for me, you know? A lot of people, you know, they get, they frown on the Nepo baby thing. But I think it's great, I think it's like, you know, I don't know what it, I don't either. I mean, I feel like it's a business, this is a business, just like any other business, if there's a car manufacturer

and then you pass it down to his son, stuff like that. It's just, that's what it is. I think what y'all done is phenomenal. I was driving on the West Side yesterday and I saw the digital billboard for Papa's House. Oh, they got a billboard out there? Yeah, when it was you and your pops. And I was just like, man, number one,

OG Damon Wayans been getting it for a long, long, long, long, long time. That man is a killer. And there's nothing cooler than being able to do what you love to do with your son. Like everybody, we love what Bron and Bronny doing. Gotta give it up for y'all too. Yeah man, I mean, I'm happy man.

We've had a really good time so far. We shot like 11 already and you know, it finally came out last night. And I'm just hoping people keep watching and seeing, because it gets funnier and funnier. The pilot is good, it sets the stage, sets the characters, but we had a lot of suits. They were kind of making sure that we did

what they wanted us to do. And then as time went on, they've let us spread our wings and now we get to just be ridiculous and funny and heartfelt and you know, I love it. I love seeing my dad every damn day. Well, what is Papa's House about for people that don't know? Cause it came out yesterday. Yeah, so Papa's House is basically about a Papa

who's a popular morning radio DJ. And yeah, a little bit. And he is a popular morning radio DJ. Purely? Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, a little bit. And he is a, he lives alone, he's happily divorced, he basically lives his dream of solitude until his son, who's like an immature, needy guy, moves in next door to him with his wife and his two kids

and just kind of turns Papa's life upside down. And that's basically the long and short of it. We were toying with the idea of calling it Raising Damon. Because it's like, you think it's him raising me, but then you kind of see that Papa needs him raising too. It's a lot of old school versus new school views. I think it's really cool. I think it, I think my goal for the show

is to bring back black comedies. You know, like had I known that, you know, the 90s in the early 2000s, like, were never gonna be again, you know, like there were so many options we had. We had Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Living Single, Cosby Show,Air, Living Single, Cosby Show, Martin, Different World, Martin. We had so many options on so many different channels.

And had I known that we were gonna have like nothing for like, you know, over a decade, I would have appreciated it more, you know, Family Matters. Nobody can explain to me why that went away because it's not like all those shows were super successful. So what happened in Hollywood that they just flipped the switch and said, we don't want no more of this. Let's do reality television.

I don't know. I feel like they always use black people to kind of build up the platforms and then just do away with them. You know, the living single friends thing, the UPN, remember UPN? Absolutely. They use all them shows.

Jamie Foxx Show 2, Marlon Wayans, the Wayans Brothers. What's the Moe Show in there? Moe Wees, come on now. So they had all these damn shows. Your pop show too, My Wife and Kids? My Wife and Kids, I didn't wanna say that. What you mean? What you mean?

That was, that was fine, I mean I didn't wanna say that. I don't want to say that. I love my wife and kids. We had so many shows. I feel like now, what we have, we have Abbott, we have The Neighborhood. Is there anything else? There was a resurgence.

But a lot of them just weren't good. Black kids and grown-ins came out. We got The Shy. Yeah, insecure. Right. Eighth Atlanta. Insecure was great. Insecure was great. I'm talking about like now,

sitcoms. Like they don't ever, yeah, like the sitcoms, like network TV. I feel like it's far and few between, and I just hope that maybe the show gets popular enough to be like, oh, let's bring more of those. You know what I mean? I love it.

Because I feel like people need to see black people enjoying themselves, black people making each other laugh, black people making the world laugh. You know, how much of this show is just improv of the script? Because I know it's based on like you guys are really about to move next door to each other or something at one point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a lot of it's improv, you know, but we have a script, but we definitely do whatever we want because you know, it's my dad's show and he'll just let people play and so we having fun

You know, I'm I like I like to improvise but you know There's certain characters that like to just do the script and they're fine doing the script, but everybody's having fun Are you good at taking notes? Are both Are you and your dad good at taking notes? Me, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I take notes. I mean, I like constructive criticism. I mean, my dad, that's how he raised me.

This dude is the most brutal critic of all time. I did, years ago I did, what was it called? Def Comedy Jam? I did Def Comedy Jam, I was like 25, 26, and I got standing ovation. Like I was nervous as hell. I got standing ovation, I do really well. I get off stage, he comes up to me, he goes,

Anything you did, son. And I go, I don't know, like eight, nine? He's like, seven and a half, and he just walks off. I was just like, There was no context, walking away. There was no context, nothing? No, nothing. No notes?

No notes. Just gotta check it out. Just do better. Uh-uh. Well, you know, how do you feel with your dad doing stand up and, you know, he would talk about you guys in stand up. And of course he talks about you, you know,

masturbating all through the house at that time. You couldn't wait to ask that question. So how did that work out for you? You lit up with that one. Boys got louder. So how was that for you as a kid when your dad used to tell them stories? It was, that one specifically was embarrassing because I remember one time I was like hooking up with this girl. Or about to hook up with her.

And she was like like wait a minute are you the guy that does the thing with spaghetti and I was just like what and then she plays me a clip of the freaking video of him just you know talking about me going spaghetti again I'll be right back and you know I didn't get any that day so yeah it messed me up, damn. Did you not get any because she wanted you to do the spaghetti trick right then and there? And you was like, no.

I'm like, you can do the spaghetti trick. Yeah. No, she just wanted to laugh at him. She just laughed. It was very embarrassing. Damn. Yeah. Y'all got Gregory Owens on the set.

Yeah. The legend, Elvin from the Cosby Show. Gregory, Jeffrey. Jeffrey, yeah. Damn, his voice. What did I legend, Elvin from the Cosby Show. Gregory, Jeffrey. Jeffrey, yeah. What did I say? No, his name is spelled weird. Yeah, spelled with a G. It's spelled Jeffrey.

It's almost like G-R-R-E-E. Yeah, G-R-R-E-E. And you don't wanna call him Elvin because it's disrespectful. So, we got him. Yeah, we got him. Do you pick their brain? Like, do you sit around and have conversations with him

about how things were back then? Not really, but he and I have a lot of scenes together. We just shot an episode together. It was just kind of he and I and my wife on the show. And we just have so much fun together. He's so ready to play. He's so just happy to be there and I'm happy to have him there. And it's just very like, he's just such a, he's a Shakespearean actor. So it's like really cool to see him in his element. Like we did something in that episode specifically for him to shine.

And he really did, it was really funny. Do you think you have an appreciation for history being that you're surrounded by it? I mean, you're making your own. But you're always, I mean, your whole life, I'm sure you're making your own, but you're always, I mean, your whole life, I'm sure Eddie Murphy or Samuel Hall or Robert Townsend, these people were just there.

So do you have a appreciation for it? Because if it was me, I couldn't shut the fuck up. I'd be asking a million questions all the time. You know, my dad kind of instilled in me not bothering famous people. I see them and I give them respect, but I'm also like, you know, you do your thing. I don't wanna ask you the question that I know thousands of people ask you.

I see Eddie and I just, I'm in awe, but I'm also not gonna show him that I'm in awe. I don't like bothering famous people. But we did used to have a lot of fun, you know. My dad said that, you know, when I was a kid, that he used to invite, that Eddie used to invite him and his family on their little yacht parties, right?

And my dad would have to go on there with his, you know, his wife and me as a kid. I was like two years old, maybe three. And Eddie would be sitting there like, man, this isn't nice, man. Like looking at my family, like see, this is what I want. I want this. I'm gonna go fuck some bitches.

And then like he'd leave and my dad would just be on the boat by himself with his family and there'd be like a bunch of girls there and stuff like that, a bunch of celebrities. And it was really cool, you know? And I remember one time, well, my dad told me this. He said that- That's what I want.

He pointed to daddy and said, I want that. Yeah, that's what dad definitely, he was like, I want that. Yeah. But, Emmanuel Lewis, you know Emmanuel Lewis? Yes, man. So Webster, he was- Webster.

You know Emmanuel Lewis. Yes, so he was on the boat, right? One time and he was like dressed fly. He had a suit on, had a watch and he's a little dude. He's a little dude and I as a baby was confused cause I'm like. You thought he was a big baby. I thought he was a big baby.

I'm like, why? How you know all them big words? Why? Who gave you a watch? You know, I'm like following him around the whole, the whole yacht trying to see what's up with him, you know? Just like, I am out. Who gave you them shoes, you know?

Where your diaper at, you know? How old was you, you remember? I was two, no, he just told me. My dad told me, I was walking around following him everywhere. He was like, come on man, he was like trying to shoot me away. Man, that is fucking funny.

I'm like, come on man, it's nap time. That's funny. So what is the, you guys always keep Essence Adkins booked, I know she's in Papa's House, she plays Dr. Ivy Green. What's the chemistry with her and the Wayans family, like can you talk a bit about that and the decision to bring her on this show?

Right, well, first of all, Essence Adkins keeps herself booked. Like, that woman is a phenomenal comedic actress. Phenomenal actress, period. But she's also, like, really funny. And initially, my dad didn't want her to be on the show because Uncle Momma was like, yo, you gotta put it on, You know, she's really funny.

I don't know what you're doing, you know? And my dad was like kind of, you know, like, no, he was on, she was on your show. I don't want to have that on my show. Like, leave it alone. And then finally he, you know, he was like, come in and read and she went in. And like from the moment she walked in the door,

she was killing us. Like just so funny. Like before she even said a word of the audition, she came in, killed it, killed it, left. And she was the first person up too. So everybody, like she just sucked all the energy out the room and there was just like, no one was gonna do or top that.

So, you know, so Essence keeps herself up. Like she's just phenomenal. Now you also see the change of comedy, right? Cause you've seen everything your family has done, right? From Blank Man to Living Color. Do you think comedy can go back there without people getting insulted, about getting offended, taking things personal?

I mean, I don't think so. I mean, I feel like- Can y'all do Blank Man too? The show kind of means internet too. We can do Blank Man, but is Blank Man offensive though? I feel like, I feel like- I'm man to the show kind of we could do like that but this blank man offensive though, I feel like I feel like I'm Jason Alexander and I'm Peter Tilden and together on the really no really podcast. Our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions

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It's called Really No Really and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Blank Man was like pretty chill. I don't remember. I have to go back and watch it again. Cause what we didn't think was offensive, now when you back try to be like,

oh yeah, that would piss everybody off. You know what I mean? How do you get away with all that? Don't give a fuck. Oh, nah, I like it. You gotta keep going, you know what I mean? How do you get away with all that? Don't give a fuck. Oh, nah, I like it. You gotta keep going, you know what I'm saying? You gotta treat it almost like comedians, right? Like I'm not a comedian, but you gotta treat it like that.

Yeah. You don't know you crashed till you crash. That's true. I'm not trying to crash, but you know. That's true, and that's what got you to where you are. Same with you. You guys, I got really. But, you guys, like I really... But I miss those shows.

I miss the Living Color shows. I do too, man. And those shows that push the line and push the edge. You know, I don't know. I blame Judd Apatow. Bring him down. I'm here for it, bring him down. I'm always down to blame the white man for something.

So, I mean, this is a conspiracy theory, but I don't think he did it intentionally, but I feel like it started with Superbad. Like Superbad came out, classic, super funny, and then I feel like after that, it was just no more black stuff, no more black movies. Like it was just like, you know, they were like, we got it from here, niggers,

and then they did all their, you know, they were like, we got it from here niggers. And then they did all their, you know, it was like Jewish comedies, like starring Jewish people, Jewish young guys, which were really funny. Like I love 40 year old version. I love bridesmaids. I love super bad, but I feel like it like just went that way and then there was no more black comedies.

Like they don't make them anymore. Have you noticed that? I wonder if it's because, I think about what you're saying all the time, because I love the tone of all those movies you just made. I even put Get Him to the Greek in that. I wonder if it's because they're willing to take more risk. Well they have the-

Like there's a lot of things that they do in their comedy that I feel like some black people wouldn't necessarily do. They have the room to do it though, right? I disagree. I say, I'm saying the opportunity's not there. You know there's like a bunch of black comedies being written, they're just not being shot. They're not being given to black comedians.

But I think he's asking would, some of our big name black comedians, would they take those roles that are gonna push those boundaries because it could offend. What boundaries? I mean people are offended by everything nowadays. So it depends on who you talking about and what you talking about.

Well it's a lot like back in the day when you look at it living color and all that stuff like that, they weren't afraid to pretend to be gay. They weren't afraid to. They wore dresses. Yeah I'm not saying you gotta wear a dress but they weren't afraid to push the limits.

There's things that I feel like people wouldn't do. Yeah I mean now you just get critiqued for everything, but I think if it's funny enough, like they'll let you do it, you know? Like we let Robert Downey Jr. get away with blackface because it was funny, right? But I don't think he could do that now. I don't feel like anything is,

I don't feel like, I don't even know if Superbag could get away with being super bad now, maybe super bad, but like 40 year old version, I don't even know if Superbag could get away with being Superbad now. Maybe Superbad, but like 40-year-old Virgin, I'm not sure, right? Like these- Not even nerds. Not even nerds, which is crazy.

Nerds is rapey though. Now when you go back- I haven't watched. You go back and look, they be like, yeah, it's rapey. Yeah, I mean, there's scenes, like you know the guy, when the guy dressed up, the girl thought it was her boyfriend

because he was dressed in the costume he had on, but it was a whole other guy. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's rapey. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it's kind of like, I feel like people are just way too aware and way too sensitive, you know what I mean?

Like, leave room for comedy. I feel like comedy is experimental. It's not the entire truth. It's like grains of truth. It's someone's truth potentially, but in reality, the goal is to make you laugh. Yeah. You know, and I feel like people shouldn't be watching

stuff ready to be offended. You should be watching stuff trying to laugh, if you're watching a comedy, if you wanna laugh. By the way, it's not even just comedy though. I think about back in the day, why was Q in high school fucking the nurse in juice? They didn't even give us an explanation. Like there was no reason for it.

I didn't think about that. Why was this nurse just fucking the high school? I bet you there was like a storyline that they just didn't have time to explore. They probably had to cut it, you know what I mean? Are you guys gonna, like, cause I don't, I feel like too it's a lot of the networks know that people will be offended

so they try to stay away even if they want to try it, right? But in Papa's house, like, you guys have Essence Atkins who's kind of coming in and your dad is like the old school person who, he's like aware of the boundaries but he doesn't really care and she's like, you're gonna have to care? Are y'all gonna kinda play around with that a little bit more

and take those risks or is the network like, we can be cute with it but like no. Cause your dad be willing to go all the way there. I love it. Oh he goes there all the time. Didn't he get in trouble on your show years ago? I watched that last night. I don't remember.

You remember that? I watched it last night. I was staying away in junior. I watched it last night. You have people diggin' for things, you resurfacing things for no reason. Well they put my picture during that whole controversy. I remember. My picture's on top of the table.

I do remember it was bastard everywhere. I was like, come on now. I was like, he didn't say it. Guess what? Gotta pay for the sins of his father. Jesus Christ. That was crazy. What we, what, you gotta pay for the sins of his father. That was crazy. Y'all gonna push those boundaries on the show?

Yes we are. We have. And I think that once the suits, the CBS, saw that we know what we're doing, they kinda let us play. And you'll see each episode gets funnier and funnier and funnier, and the characters get more and more well-rounded. We deal with real issues too, which is kind of weird to have serious scenes

and stuff like that, but we do that too, which just makes the comedy funnier. And I love what we're doing right now, man. It's very unique, especially on CBS. We're definitely making CBS uncomfortable with the choices we're making, which I think is great. Because we're pushing the envelope. It's like we're competing against streaming now,

competing against network shows that go for it. So it's like there's no time to really just play it safe. What are you teaching your father? Because we all struggle with my father. What are you teaching your father? Cause we all, you know, we always struggle with. Teaching my father. You gotta be teaching him something. Like cause you know, your experience is totally different than his experience.

Are you teaching him anything? I don't know. You know, I really maybe be a little nicer. I don't know. I don't know. Is he nicer? I feel like he's getting nicer. Where's he getting older?

He's getting nicer. You know, he's cranky sometimes, but that's just how he's always been. But then he has really high highs. Like if you make him laugh, you can get him out of a bad mood. That's how we used to get out of Spankin's. Make him laugh.

Make him laugh, yeah. I got ass. Tell me the close encounter. Like what's the close, I'm talking about the belt the ass about to be and you come with that fire joke that made him put the belt down. So he used to swing the belt with,

you know like some people like fold the belt, he didn't used to fold the belt. So it would just be like long, right? Like a whip. Like a whip, yeah. And so when he was about to hit me, I was like, don't get my ding ding! And I like held my stuff and then he just laughed

because it would wrap around sometimes and go whoosh and hit the tip. Ooh. God damn. He didn't hit us a lot. That's how the music. When he did, he did hoit. Yeah, but he was, you know, he got his ass whipped

when he was little, so he didn't really know. But he didn't hit us a lot. I can name, I can, you know, he got his ass whooped when he was little, so he didn't really know. But he didn't hit us a lot. I can name, I can, you know, count on one hand how many times. I gotta ask, you're drinking soda and water this morning? I had to, I had a long day yesterday. Yesterday was long. So I don't even drink soda like that.

Like if my dad see this, he gonna be pissed. So soda's the caffeine and water's the healthy. So, water is to flush it out. Caffeine is to wake me up. Mm-hmm. Oh, you're gonna be pissed. So does the caffeine and water is the healthy? Water is to flush it out. Caffeine is to wake me up. Oh, you don't like coffee? I don't like coffee. Coffee makes me, you know. Shit.

Yeah. I already, I don't have a problem with that. That's why I do my Reposado. I be doing shots in my water to hydrate. Coffee and Hennessy lacks in this for me. Yeah, I don't even drink like that. I had two glasses of wine yesterday and I'm messed up right now.

Jesus. Yeah. Well she had about seven and she's still fine. Not seven glasses of wine. Seven shots. No, I had like three glasses of wine last night. Yeah, but you a youngster. You could do that.

Yeah, but what I do is I hydrate while I'm doing it because it makes it easier. Yeah, do you do it with like salt, like little Celtic salt? They say that you put salt in the water is supposed to really get into your bloodstream. I heard that. No, I never heard of that.

Are you ever afraid to work with your pops because you know that he just like sabotaged his SNL situation and just walked, he purposely did things to get fired? Do you ever think that he might do that again? I mean, I think he's, I think he's more patient now. I think he's, um,

I think he just wants to make a good show and spend time with his family doing it. Like, I feel like this is like what he likes doing. And so I don't think he's gonna jeopardize that. Yeah. I mean, that, you mean, maybe 10 years ago, maybe, but now I feel like he's just chill and just having fun. We just be laughing the whole day. It's just, I love it.

And when you talked about Sean writing on the show and your Aunt Kim being a showrunner, do y'all even look outside of the family? No, we have a lot of people that are from, are outside of the family too. There's like 12, 13 writers on the show. You said they know you guys though, right? Yeah, we all know, they're family friends.

Like the show runner, the show runner wrote Major Payne with my dad, he wrote on my wife and kids with my dad, so. Do strangers get a chance? Strangers get a chance too, yeah, we got some strangers in there. That sounds so crazy. We got some strangers in the writers room. I love it though, so. Do strangers get a chance? Strangers get a chance too. Yeah, we got some strangers in there. That sounds so crazy. We got some strangers in the writers room. I love it though, man.

Y'all are doing it the way black people should do it. I agree, and I think that, you know, and we're not bringing in stragglers. Like we're bringing in people that contribute to the project. They're not just being like, they're not just there because their name is Wayans. They're actually like contributing and being really good.

Kenan Jr.'s in the writers' room, which is, he's so damn funny. My brother Michael in the writers' room. It's just great, man. I don't know. This is the closest thing I've come to being on a show that I have control over. Right?

Like I always kind of envy my family, like the first generation, because they got to come in as themselves. Like this is who we are within Living Color. Like this is who we are, take it or leave it. This is funny to us. Like I've been an actor for higher my entire career. So I've been funny in spots,

but you can only be as funny as they allow you to be. And so I love that this is kind of like the next best thing, you know. It's still my dad's baby, but I get to contribute a lot, and he's very collaborative, so yeah. Damon gotta go, Gus. Oh yeah.

Well two more questions. When did you feel like you started to make your own name for yourself? Like when people started saying, oh that's not Damon Wayans son, that's actually Damonien Wayans son, that's actually Damien Wayans union. I feel like when I had the Happy Endings show and then I booked the Newboro show at the same time.

Right, and so there was like a whole uproar about that. Not that that was pretty cool. Cause Happy Endings was my first, the first show I ever auditioned for. And then Newboro was the second show I ever auditioned for. So I felt like, I was like, oh, I got, there's something. You know, I got something. And then after that, I just felt like I can do my own thing.

Are you gonna be part of the tour that they're doing? They're doing a tour? Yeah, in a way. You didn't know about the comedy tour? No, all of them together. They don't be telling me nothing. I'm second generation. Nah, they barely told us.

We just thought you knew and we was gonna drop it here. Yeah, we thought we was gonna catch you slipping. No, I saw me nothing. I'm second generation. Nah, they barely told us. We just thought you knew and was gonna drop it here. Yeah, we thought we was gonna catch you slipping. No, I saw that clip. I think. Yeah, yeah. I saw that clip. You are so well composed.

We kept it, we kept it. No, no, no. What I was gonna say is I think it's something else. I don't think it's a tour. I think it's something else. What you think it is? I can't say. But what I think it is, but if it is what I think it is,

it's gonna be fire. We know that, but like, do we have to turn on the- It just has to be something to immortalize the wings. I think, like the wings need a 30 for 30 or something. Like, you know what I'm saying? Oh, that would be dope. But do they do that for? I don't know.

I've never seen them do that. I'll give you the first. Yeah, I mean, that would be dope. But no, it's gonna be, it's a... What? I think it's a... It's either like, it's like something on TV or film, I think.

I think. What's it called? I don't know. I can't say. I think you might've said too much. As soon as it drop, he gonna be the host, and we gonna be like, he was in here like he did nothing. But I gave more than he did.

You did. But this is your than he did. You did. But this is your time to shine. Just imagine what they did to you last time. You wasn't even here. They put your picture on things. You strong, man. You should just blow it up right now. No, I can't say.

Because I don't know if it's true. Because if I say something that is wrong, True. Then I'm gonna look like an idiot. I get it. So they don't even tell me that much. I hear like whispers. My family's just gossiping ass family, man.

Well salute to you for continuing to carry the torch the right way. Thank you man, and salute to y'all man. Cause like I came here, I forgot how many years ago. At least over a decade I think. Yeah, yeah, and then to see what you guys became is just fucking phenomenal man. Appreciate you brother.

Papa's House Mondays 8.30 on CBS. Make sure you check it out. You can stream it on Paramount Plus as well. And we appreciate you for joining us, brother. Thank you, man. Damon Wayans Jr. It's The Breakfast Club, good morning. Wake that ass up in the morning.

The Breakfast Club. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together our mission on the Really No Really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor? What's in the museum of failure and does your dog truly love you? We have the answer.

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