The School of Greatness - Marlon Wayans Opens Up on Battling Depression (“I Broke Down & Cried On Stage”)

Episode Date: September 2, 2024

SUMMIT OF GREATNESS IS UNDER 2 WEEKS AWAY! Have you gotten your tickets yet? Get them before they sell out at lewishowes.com/ticketsGet ready for an inspiring and heartfelt conversation with the multi-talented Marlon Wayans! In this episode, we dive deep into Marlon's journey as a comedian, actor, and producer, exploring how he's evolved both personally and professionally over his 30-year career. Marlon opens up about his spiritual growth, the impact of losing his parents, and his mission to bring healing through laughter. From his ambitious goals in stand-up to his thoughts on success and failure, Marlon's insights will leave you motivated to embrace your own path to greatness. Don't miss this powerful episode that combines humor, wisdom, and raw emotion!In this episode you will learnHow Marlon is incorporating spiritual growth and healing into his comedy specialsThe importance of continual learning and growth in pursuing your goalsWhy Marlon believes in doing a new stand-up special every year, contrary to industry normsHow losing his parents has shaped Marlon's perspective on life and his artThe value of building the right team and treating yourself as a businessMarlon's approach to overcoming fear and embracing new challengesThe power of trusting in your journey and viewing greatness as a ongoing processFor more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1662For more Greatness text PODCAST to [phone]More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Eckhart Tolle – https://link.chtbl.com/1463-podRhonda Byrne – https://link.chtbl.com/1525-podJohn Maxwell – https://link.chtbl.com/1501-pod

My mother's death shattered me into a million pieces. Really? Break a heart, break up my life. I was rescuing myself with my comedy. The expression became different. Expression became therapeutic. I'm bleeding inside, but I'm literally pulling myself from depression. I'm back with my buddy Marlon Wayans.

Actor and comedian Marlon Wayans. He's been performing stand-up since he was a teenager and has starred in dozens of popular series and movies. Please welcome Marlon Wayans. I got people cracking up right for 57 minutes. And then it hit me. One stage, I had to pop, broke down. I cried because the reality of my parents didn't go and hit me.

If you could hear a message from your mom, what would you want that message to be? Big boy, you did good. You did right by our family. You showed the grandkids and the great-grandkids and everybody was good. You took care of your brothers and your sisters. I always knew you would. What do you wish more people would ask you? Probably what I'm afraid of. What are you afraid of? I'm afraid of...

Hey everyone, this is Lewis Howes, and I am so excited to invite you to the Summit of Greatness 2024 happening at the iconic Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. This is more than just an event. It's a powerful experience designed to ignite your passion, boost your growth, and connect you with a community of other

inspiring achievers. Join us Friday, September 13th and Saturday, September 14th for two days packed with inspiration and transformation from some of the most incredible speakers on the planet. Don't miss out on this chance to elevate your life, unlock your potential, and be part of something truly special. Make sure to get your tickets right now and step into greatness with us at the Summit of Greatness 2024. Head over to lewishouse.com slash tickets and get your tickets today and I will see you there. excited about our guests. We have the inspiring Marlon Wayans in the house. Good to see you, sir. Good to see you. Very excited that you're here. Just for people that don't know, you are extremely talented, not only as an actor, but producer, director, creative, writer, stand-up icon, and your films have done over a billion dollars globally over the years. Crazy. And we were just talking beforehand about you've been in this industry. I asked you, when did you start making your first dollars? And it's been over 30 years. Crazy. And we were just talking beforehand about, you've been in this industry.

I asked you, when did you start making your first dollars? And it's been over 30 years, three decades of you in this kind of world of entertainment, writing, creativity, and expressing yourself. And there's something I- It's crazy because I only look 30. You do look 30. That's just why. You were born, yeah, exactly.

And something I read about you recently, um, that I think is really cool because I think a lot of people think of you only as, well, maybe not a lot of people, but I think a lot of people might assume that you're always out for the joke. You're always out for writing the best joke and getting the laugh and whether it be on standup and the movies that you're creating. But I saw something recently where you talked about wanting to bring spiritual growth to audiences. And I don't know if that's over the last few years that's come to you or if you've always had that. But when did that start to become a focus for you saying,

I want to obviously bring laughter because laughter is healing, but how can I help audiences grow spiritually through my creativity? I think that started for me. I think stand-up has developed me into that. I think that was always there, but I couldn't hear it

because I was too desperate for the joke. But then life happens. And you understand, for 47 years of my life, 48 years, I had an amazing life. I say it to them. I'm like, if people could die and come back as anybody, please come back as me for my first 48 years of life. Really? Magical life.

Story existed. My mother would love me. My father who protected us and stayed with my mom and brothers and sisters when they wasn't trying to kill me they were great you know great uh role models and they poured into me uncles and aunties that loved me and i just had a beautiful time i i a career i had i grew up in a house with my legends. You know how crazy that is? The people that you want to be like they're sleeping

in the bed above you. That's crazy. Underneath you. You grow to be like, and then they become superstars. And then you meet Eddie Murphy when you're like 8 years old. And Robert Townsend when you're like 6. And guys like John Witherspoon, another comedian giant when you're like six and guys like john witherspoon another comedian

giant when you're like 12 and then you go on your brother creates a living color and you know jim carrey and tommy davidson and j-lo and all these great dave nowland gray all these great people i had a great life and then what happened was my parents died and 57 people I love died 57 wow and that's the sad part about getting to be my age is people die

and not to be a hater but you better hope that you watch people die because that means you're still alive I'm going to miss you but I don't want to go I want to be here forever so That you watch people die because that means like you're still alive. I'm a mission, but I don't want to go. I want to be here forever. So, you know, I started having this different vision of myself because I was rescuing myself with my comedy. The expression became different.

Expression became therapeutic i'm bleeding inside but i'm i'm literally pulling myself from depression because my mother's death shattered me into a million pieces really biggest heartbreak of my life yeah and my father's death i started putting myself back together piece by piece and with that piece my dad was a very religious and spiritual person i realized that when i did my last special good grief and even a special before that god loves me i realized that it's not about the joke that it's about the story if i could bring story to stand up i can do something different that no that would be my voice because i've been doing movies and tvs for

30 years and now i'm like oh wow i only been doing stand-up 12. and i'm like oh wow if i put all this knowledge that i have these together i could create something that hasn't really been done. And then that's what left me with the spirit, because when I do stand up, it's like a character that has in a movie, a hero that has to find an elixir. That elixir for a lot of times it's not the last the last things that keeps you entertained the elixir for me is always going to be love right that is a universal thing love so if i put that whether it's love of self whether it's love of a girl whether it's love of my family whether it's whatever it is, healing, right? Those things. And that's what I'm trying to get at the end.

Then beyond the joke, because if I tell you a joke, I could change your mood, but I'm not going to change your life. Now, if I tell you a great story that affects you, now I left you with a jewel that you can actually change your life with. Wow. From watching me tell you these jokes and these stories. And that's how I think I'm going to be a very effective communicator and brand.

It's like a rebranding of myself. I have all this time. Me and my brothers did all these great things, and I realized the individual that I am. And now I could do Marlon, right? Take Wayans and put it over there for a second let me fly around as marlin and find my voice without having to answer to a committee without having to you know do things everybody the older brothers say i could just do me and then when i learn all

of me i could come back to wayans and be like guys let me tell you how we can build this brand. And so that's what I'm finding, that my voice is more than just telling jokes. Telling jokes is the smallest part. Telling you a great story and changing your mood and changing your life. Who taught you how to tell stories better? Or when did you start to really master the art of storytelling i'm still working on it you never really master the art storytelling there's different kind of storytelling and storytelling would stand up and then there's just storytelling i think the

best book about writing and storytelling I ever read was probably The Writer's Journey. I think it was by Chris Vogler. The Writer's Journey. The Hero's Journey. Hero's Journey. You're right. I think it was Chris Vogler.

Is that Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey or different? No, Joseph Campbell did, I think he did Hero Has a Thousand Faces. Yes, yes. Right? Yes. I think, I think it was Chris Vogler. I think it's the same thing that did Myth in Movies. Whatever.

Hero's Journey. I already know Journey. Sometimes they call it either. That book really made me look at, when I watch movies, I look at them differently. I see scripts. I see characters. I see journeys. What does he want? It made me look at, I don movies i look at them differently i see scripts i see characters i i see journeys what does he want it made me look at i don't i'm not entertained by movies anymore you're studying i'm studying it's crazy when me i'm watching a movie you guys know i'm watching

the construction i'm like oh my god good news bad news worse news indiana Indiana Jones is an hour and a half, two hours of good news, bad news, worst news. Something good happens. Something bad happens. Something worse happens. I escape that and good news again. And that's bad news. Good news, bad news, worst news. I get this thing from this egg or whatever.

It's a valuable egg it unleashes a boulder oh my god i'm running i'm running i'm running i take and i jump and i get to safety and when i land from b escaping the boulder i'm in a pit of snakes right my worst nightmare i escape right so studying story studying character studying what a hero goes through studying how other characters help this the hero or try to hinder the hero from getting the elixir right those are obstacles in his way insurmountable odds and every scene has to be like that so i learned from that book and i also think i took robert mckee's story story by robert mckee he had a seminar that he did and um i went five times first time i went i understand where do you say i swear i cut english you know what i mean

like like even when i write i'm look, I'm not great with grammar. I'm not going to work good. But here, and my writing partner, Rick, he's a stickler for that. So we work. I'm like, yo, here's this funny. Yo, make it work. What if it was this character? Let's write that.

And then we collaborate on that. He is never going to be able to give the flavor and them jokes like I could give. So we have a great, uh, uh, collaboration. Um,

but taking that course the first time, I didn't know what he was saying, but I kept going. And now on the fifth time I took it, I was like, I don't need to take it no more. I understand everything that man is saying. I understand everything that man is saying when it comes to writing the story.

Crazy enough, parody of which I came up with in stories like the least important thing. Really? It's all about the jokes. It's a desperate medium. This story is not important? A thin one. But the jokes, everything. The timing of the jokes.

Got to be funny. Really? When you write a script, when you're in a parody, unlike any other genre, right? Everything got to be funny. The slug line. Okay, where am I? What's funny about where the person is? What is the people doing they got to

be doing something funny who was saying something funny who was the character they got to be funny their interaction with the next person got to be funny the dialogue what's funny about the dialogue what's funny about the world everything the whole movie the whole movie wow so desperate medium that's why not a lot of people can do parody the way we can do parody because we have such a well and a knowledge of great characters and our experience and you know through rangers telling jokes and for years and it's you have to master the art of comedy it It's its own art. And there's different forms of comedy within the art of comedy. There's different genres, right? Sketch.

So, I'm sorry, I talk a lot. No, it's great. Outside of your own movies, what do you think are the three best parody movies that you've seen that have done it incredibly well? Airplane. Hot Shots, Blade of the Saddles.

I think they did it great. Those guys, the Zookers, Mel Brooks, you know, they're the forefathers of the genre, so respects. Without them doing it,

we would have never... We probably would have come to it. Right. But they gave us the blueprint. Yeah. And they showed you how it works. Yeah. And we just remodeled the whole thing.

It was like, this is the old Ford car and it runs on gas. And we was like, nah, take all that off. We're going to make it electric. We're going gonna put the exhaust system on there we're gonna this car is gonna go zero to a hundred and three seconds like we just changed it up yes and put the flavor on it put we put our our uh urban voices on a white genre

which gave it flavor and it was like oh we never seen that before and it's hard to replicate because it's based on our experience that's why we're like somebody wants to do scary movie five we're like okay go for it it's not gonna do well it's hard yeah it'd be hard because you don't you have to know what you're doing and nobody And you have to love the art of parody. Parody is its own beast. Now, as a writer, I understand that story. So next time I write a parody, it's going to be way better than the parody I wrote in the past. Because now I understand story.

But you said story doesn't matter as much as the jokes in parody. It doesn't. But I still think if you can marry the two, you've done something great. So that's what I'm looking forward to is writing the next thing that's going to be. I'm putting it all together. Everything is coming all together. You're working on it right now? No.

Well, I have a couple ideas in my head. Right, right. And I think Rick and I are going to lay into one and then we're just going to let rip that's cool i had one i was gonna do but i i can't so i'm not gonna even go there because you know and then um so i think books help me tell stories also i think some of the great comedians tell great stories like richard pryor great storyteller dave chappelle wonderful storyteller dave is masterful you watch dave man dave is like um it's like going to school like he's like a science professor you know i mean an english teacher like he's well well read well

spoken knows how to put it all together um my brother damon great storyteller great comedian like this so i'm i think you have to steal fire from the gods yeah and what you learn is you don't steal jokes i never want to tell anybody's joke i will you never got to accuse me of i'm a writer i'm a writer not just for myself but for others me of i'm a writer i'm a writer not just for myself but for others you know i mean like i i'm a creator so i don't want to hear you steal no no i don't do that i look at things that they do that are inspiring and i go i like this element you know i mean like i like that dave can educate you with his humor i love that kevin hart could sell you a joke that's a great salesman right there well this is good or bad

he knows it makes it sound funny either way yeah yeah chris rock i love his artistry because chris is a perfectionist you're right and are like guys that have been doing it before me. I'm newer to stand-up, so they're kind of like the big brothers for me, even though some of them are younger or my age. I just started taking stand-up really serious the past 12, maybe 14 years. But now I'm progressing at a crazy rate because I write, produce, 30 years of material i write tv i i i know how to direct like i so when all these things meet the stand-up comedian and the reason why i started doing

stand-up because i was a star for like 20 something years i've been a star tv movies yeah i'm not i'm not content really i want to be a superstar in order to be a superstar meaning when the best scripts come in i want to be one of the 10 guys that they're sending those scripts to i want to be one of the 10 guys that get the best scripts to work with the best directors because they want to collaborate and we get the best scripts to work with the best directors because they want to collaborate and we get the best budgets and then i go on a worldwide tour selling out of this movie but i need the fans to be like i trust him so see stand-up has made me a professor in comedy really now i understand and i know how to sell a joke and i know how to when i'm on these talk shows i've been lighting them up i like jimmy

fallon jimmy fallon going to show he's like oh my god it's always a seven minute vacation when you come on you're gonna ask me questions i'm just i just rolled and ripped because i got 300 people in front of me and make them laugh and then i know how to make them laugh in the morning so when i do kelly and ryan or kelly and her husband what's her name yeah my favorite kelly kelly and mark want to do this show i know how to i'm appropriate for who's watching so females in the morning i'm not gonna curse i'm not gonna be too edgy you read the room yeah read the room know who's you know i mean there's's morning talk shows to the afternoon drive. Yeah, if you're doing that.

Knowing who to sell and how to sell. So me doing stand-up, I was like, I'm going to get people to pay $50 in ticket to come see me. And one day I'm going to sell out the garden. And if I can get sell out the garden and they're paying 50 to 100 something dollars to come see me there or maybe a couple hundred I don't know then when it comes to movies they're gonna pay that 20 to come see me in the movie because I have been working to be a huge international star and everything is what is being created through just me working i don't even look up and see what i've done i just love to work and now i'm starting to look up and go okay you have

to pull out of the micro and you have to be macro now look at yourself and how do you build this artist into this wonderful business but i have the knowledge and the skill set and i used to be very humble because humble people want to learn i've just gotten confident really because i know i did the work i can talk to you about how to write a you want to know something i'm an i have an excellence in something i have i have a skill set i have a knowledge of something that is like oh how did you put that together right and i could sit there and i could tell you how i did it i know the science beyond comedy i know the math beyond comedy i know this i've done it my whole life and now i'm learning sales and now i'm i really want

to learn business you know i mean so i'm gonna surround myself with people that can teach me about that so i can apply all those things to this thing called comedy and built out of marley but for so many years you had movies that people were already coming to the movies and watching you they're already paying 20 bucks to come you're you know you're selling selling billion dollars at the box office globally with all your movies most comedian most stand-up comedians it seems to me do stand up to try to get big enough to be able to then go movies you started in movies and you're going backwards why go backwards when you've already been a star? Because I don't want to be a... I want to laugh at a billion dollars in box office.

I want a hundred billion dollars in box office. Why do you want a hundred billion? I want Tom Cruise because I know I can do it. I have an amazing skill set. Not just comedy, like drama. I went to Fulmer Arts High School. I'm a really... They don't even know...

I'm a really talented, dramatic actor. I know it. I know it. And it just got better. And this year I got Belle. I got two episodes of that. And then I have a movie with Jordan Peele, him, and that Justin Tipping director, who's an absolute visionary.

And I'm telling you, man, I'm just in, I'm in my bag and I can finally say it. You know when you, you know. Put the reps in. You got the reps. I got the reps in.

I did the work. What do you think is holding you back from the next level of those results that you want? God. Why do you think God is holding you back? Because

I think in order to make the kind of sword that I'm going to be, I have to go through a lot of fire. I had to go through a lot of fire. So everything is building me. God is not breaking me. So every time, every milestone that I don't reach or I get close to,

I'm still hungry. I'm still thirsty. But I'm better. Wow. i'm better and more skilled like now god i was too young to headline movies i couldn't get the girl and save the day i just started putting muscle on my body and getting the beard and knowing having the poise to stay still in the scene and be charming not funny you were the funny guy yeah and now i'm the off the friend no no no now i know how to be both now i know how to be ryan reynolds and deadpool i'm ready for those kind of things because this is what i have us and say like there's only

jordan peele told me he said something funny to me he came to set and he was like let me take I mean, he came to set and he was like, let me take 15 minutes and just talk to you about how special you are. He watched my performance, watched my daily. Like, I got to say, there's nobody like you. Said you're one of one. Anybody that's like you is either dead or crazy but the well you can come from dramatically and dramatically and comedy at the same time he's like there's only been like robin williams like jim carrey like there's not a lot of guys

that can hit that high note the high note there's one thing like will smith can do both but he's not a lot of guys that can hit that high note the high note there's one thing like will smith can do both but he's not a stand-up guy and he can hit the low point the drama uh-huh but he wasn't a stand-up guy though he isn't but that's what i'm saying see will when it comes to the comedy uh-huh not that he can't do it but he would have to study a little bit more to hit the high notes that eddie murphy has hit that high note do you know what i mean it's different it's like beyonce versus jennifer hudson it's that high note beyonce superstar right and she's amazing damn high note jennifer hudson is i can never right that's the level of funny like a jim carrey that's the high note jim carrey eddie murphy you know martin those are the high notes like you know what i'm saying for me marlin

i'm trying to hit the high notes like dave chappelle high notes and then they hit every level in between and so i'm not uh comparing myself and i have nothing but respect for all those mentioned and love for all those mentioned including will i think will has been an amazing star and an example for years i could look at that and go yeah he broke the mold eddie murphy he broke the mold you telling me black don't travel and black ain't overseas but yet the box office saying different yes and same thing with us there's like black and black don't travel and black ain't overseas, but yet. The box office is saying differently. Yes. And same thing with us.

There's like black and comedy don't work. Yeah, we give them a movie called Scary Movie. And that makes $300 million worldwide. Wow. And we give them part two, makes $100 something million worldwide. Then we do White Chicks, it makes $100 something million worldwide. And you're telling me black don't travel. All my movies on Netflix have been number one in every territory around the world number one they don't tell you this but it does travel

and now i know i want to be able to do it all so i want to be able to do the romantic comedy i want to do the action i want to do the action comedy i want to do the buddy action comedy i want to be able to do the um you know a drama i want to be able to do all of it and i want people to go that's the guy and i want to sell the out of it in every market and along the way align myself with great brands and you know if you i've managed myself pretty good i grew up in the projects trouble all around me my whole life i've never been to jail i had fights i could scrap i never i've never been to jail i never got a dui i never i don't do dumb yeah i never disrespect women because i know where i'm going and in order to get there

i gotta keep it clean yes so you So, you know, I behave myself. I'm appropriate. But, I mean, I talk a lot. No, I love it, man. This is beautiful. You know, you mentioned that, I don't know if you said God is like holding you back or you still need more connection to God to get to the next level or whatever that is. God makes me have to do the work. There's more I need to learn.

What do you think? What is God speaking to you about how to get to the next level of service through your creativity to be able to create the results you want? Keep working and keep building and stay on your path. You're doing great. And I see it now because my last stand-up, Good Grief, was about my parents dying. About how to grieve. How to get through it. Minute 57, I'm making people laugh,

talking about changing my dad's pamper and my mom's pamper, talking about their private parts. I got people cracking up. I got all right for 57 minutes. And then it hit me. I was running from my own pain. And I was talking about my own pain. And I was talking about my mother, and I just started... I broke down.

One stage, after a pod, broke down. I cried. I was just like... Because the reality of my parents being gone hit me. Yeah, it didn't hit you until then. It did. But it wasn't supposed to hit me in a show. When I'm filming a special. And it did, and I was like, all right, cool. And I was going to. Right. Well, I'm filming a special. And it did.

And I was like, all right, cool. And I was going to cut that out. But I was like, no. Keep it in. Because I need people to understand that I, like you, I'm hurting. But life goes on. And we still look for smiles. smiles and i get so many messages in my inbox about good grief on amazon prime about how it affected them and how it helped them help them grieve they lost their parents too

we're in the same club gang gang and how they cried with me and they thanked me because they were in a place of depression and i helped see help them see their way out because I showed myself my way out. So that's healing. That's why doctors make a lot of money. That's why pharmacies are a huge business because they help people feel better. Well, so can comedy. I want to help people feel better. I want to heal.

So the stories I'm telling now, my next one I'm working on. I have a trans child. Daughter turned into a son. And I talk about the transition. Not their transition. I talk about the five stages of grief. Storytelling. I talk about the five stages of grief, storytelling, that I learned from those books.

The five stages of grief to get to acceptance from defiance to acceptance. Resistance. Frustration. Anger. Upset.

I was defiant. I was like, no, you're not doing it. And then I went through the five stages of grief. Now, I'm proud to say it only took me one week. I'm sad to say that this in a funny way with truth because there's people out there that need some healing yes there's people out there that need to hear this to know that oh i identify with you i got people coming up to me crying oh my god i mean my child is going through the same thing and i just just want you to know, once again, I'm taking my art of comedy and I'm helping to heal.

And I think that's something different. Different. I want to make you feel good. Not just all some silly. I don't want to punch down on nobody. I want everybody to feel good. I'm going to punch down on me. I'm the joke.

I'm the butt of my jokes. And I'm going to tell you a good story about how to be better. I was telling my friend this morning at the gym, because he was asking me, I lost my father a couple years ago as well. Sorry. And thank you. Gang gang. Yeah.

You lost your dad? Yeah. Mom's still here? Mom's still here. Man, love her. Yeah. Love her. Let me tell you here. Man, love her. Yeah. Love her. Let me tell you something.

I love my daddy, but if I had to choose between him and my mama, bye, how? Bring your mom back. Yeah, yeah. Mothers is something. You see, your dad always prepares your boy for, you know, when I'm gone. You know, your dad, especially if you're close, your dad you those lessons of and that that the guide on how to be a man when your mother goes it rips your heart i shouldn't my mother died blended my heart into pieces and she went first and uh so love them if you don't and once a week go take your mother on a date.

Go take her on a date. I took my mother once a week. I didn't care where I was. My father, too. Take him out for a drink. I don't care where I was in the world. If I'm in Ohio, I'm flying to New York because they live separately. I fly to New York, hang out with my dad, take him to dinner, laugh with him, have some wine.

And then I get on a plane Tuesday, pick my mother we'll take her to dinner go on a date and i did that because i knew one day they weren't going to be here and so it's important to give them that time because when they go yeah you're going to be sad but i have no regrets yeah yeah i have no regrets i was a great son that's cool as i was a great brother as a great friend and titles that really mean something to me, I've been great in. And so make sure you go take on a date. Since their passing, what's been the biggest lesson, as you can reflect back, that each of them taught you about life?

My mother taught me to always learn, try different things, find joy, even though your situation may be bad, whether it's poverty, whether it's, you know, grieving, always find the funny right and to love hard and and and to be affectionate to let it all out and not be afraid to be vulnerable let it all out and some of it i learned is from watching her it is not letting disappointments or failures make me bitter negative and too afraid to be vulnerable right so really watching the journey the good the bad and the ugly you can't i i think people spend so much time worrying about what their parents did wrong i study what they did right when i watch movies i remember one time we was watching i've been in black and my brother was like you know what's wrong with this movie i said it made 400 million dollars nothing it's perfect right so here's what they did right so and my dad so that's what my mom taught me my father taught me and i will say and he would be so proud to hear this my father taught me god really my father taught me

the importance of god's journey the importance of that bible and i need to read it more i need to study it my dad could tell you the scriptures. He knew only one book, the Bible. Wow. You ask him a verse about love, Corinthians 13, chapter four. How do you know he studied the Bible? My dad would wake up in the morning, first thing he did was he got up and he studied the Bible.

Then he closed that book and he would say a prayer. Then he would rub his knees and look up to God like how I'm gonna feed these ten people today let's go Wow so my father taught me the importance of God and the importance of working hard for your family and don't be afraid of hard work if you're gonna clean a toilet nah don't do that no no get up underneath it right getting the ball getting them when i was working in sneaker stores and stuff i was a great employee that's why when it comes to me doing movies i've always had great experiences all my directors love me because you don't have to tell me hey can you learn your lines no no no when i leave a set i don't get we had a 14 hour day i got my acting coach that i paid for this they paid for

and i'm like all right let's work we're gonna work three hours in the morning and then we're gonna work an hour before after i work out come back because when i get to set want to be prepared i'm gonna be prepared so now i'm not sitting there learning lines no i got it all packed in i'm ready i'm ready and you can move me any kind of way in the all and i can adjust because i'm not sitting there learning lines. No, I got it all packed in. I'm ready. I'm ready. And you can move me any kind of way. And I can adjust because I'm not worried about gathering lines. So I do more work than you actually expect or I'm expected to do. I don't give less. I always give more.

If I'm writing movies, I love to do it all. All the meetings, I'm there. I don't follow nothing in. I'm all the meetings. I'm there. I don't follow nothing in. I do all my writing, all my stand-up. They're like, how did you, how are you dropping a new hour of material every year? And I'm like, because I'm a writer. And I don't write it down no more. The audience don't even know.

You're basically coming to watch me write. Live. Live. You're creating live. Live. I don't do them in town, five minutes here, five minutes there. I don't have to. I just do a brand new, I do my special 11-11.

11-17, I was in Baltimore, I forgot, Baltimore or somewhere else with a brand new hour wow not one word from the special brand new hour that i'm where i worked through right that i and i and now how do you do that i'm a writer yeah i know and i challenge myself i challenge myself i already know what my next special is i know what my next three specials are now wow now i haven't worked on all the material but i know you have the idea of the journey of where it's is. I know what my next three specials are now. Wow. Now, I haven't worked on all the material, but I know. You have the idea of the journey of where it's going. Yep. I know what the next one, Ugly Baby.

Skittles is this one. Next one's Ugly Baby. Ugly Baby is my journey with my brothers and sisters in my household. And then after that, talk about relationships. I know them. Know them. Because life has been my greatest writer. The journey.

And now I can apply it to my business, right? So my last three specials, my last two, maybe my three, I paid for them myself. I was like, no, no, no. They were like, oh, yeah. And we don't have the budget for it right now. Or we're slotted through till 2026. And I'm like, okay, that's cool. But I'm ready to film my special now.

So I filmed my special and then I licensed it to HBO. Then I licensed it to Amazon. And now I still have my special. Wow. Because I know I'm not waiting for somebody or anybody, Hollywood, to tell me i'm ready no no no no i know when i'm ready i know when i'm making people laugh now you're gonna bite down and you're gonna give me the budget go market the hell out of this and bring people to

your site and this one's gonna cost but i'm not waiting on you to tell me i'm ready i know how good it is i'm getting sand ovations everywhere i go wow i know i know how good it is so i'm gonna film it in a place that i desire i'm gonna give it my all and then i'm gonna cut it together and hopefully you like and then if not then i'll sell somewhere else i got it or i got a write-off you know what i mean yeah yeah or you sell it online or whatever yeah yeah i'll sell it i'll create my own Everything is God. And they don't want to buy it. They don't want to license it. That's God. God's saying, okay, well, then you got to create your own business. What do you mean everything is God?

Whenever you, there's no failure. There's no wrong. Whenever something doesn't go my way, it's because it wasn't supposed to. So when I say everything is God, you trust God. You think of the positives, not the negatives. If it didn't happen, my brother told me, if one door closes, if you sit there and you stare at that one door, you're not looking around. A thousand other doors have opened. All you got to do is look around.

You staring at the door like a dog stares at a tennis ball. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And there's a wall and you're trying to get somewhere. Sometimes you're going to kick a hole through the wall and the door. I'm going to kick a hole through that wall and I'm going to make my way because that's what I have to do. God is telling me not to just open that door and go through it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I really want to be masterful.

I got to knock my go through it. No, no, no, no, no, no. I really want to be masterful. I got to knock my way through there. What if you've spent a million dollars on the production and you've spent six months on developing the content and you've had this expectation

of launching it into the world and you put all your heart, your life, your soul into this thing and then no one wants it? Great. Not time. Really?

I learned a lot, though. I learned I could put a movie together for a million dollars. I learned I could put a special together for a million dollars. And I learned about the locations. I learned how much it costs for crew. I've learned about the director do a great job. What crew work. Everything is lessons.

This is a positive. I'm not worried about there's going to come a time where I cruel work anything is lessons this is a positive i'm not worried about there's going to come a time where i'm going to be so big that people want to buy everything i have there's going to come a time in my life and and then i'm building a library and then when i'm gone maybe and my kids have this thing that dad did that you go wow all these things my dad did that they never saw now the legend of me my kids kids kids will be able to eat off the thing so there's no failure everything is supposed to happen exactly the way it is when i was 19 i got batman i was gonna be the first like black person besides billy d to be in one of these big movies was with Tim Burton. And I was going to be Robin.

Then I got a phone call from Tim Burton and Denise DiNovi in a letter saying that I wasn't. Really? And see, I was going to be off to the races. Batman, Robin. Do you know what my career would have been? But it didn't happen. And immediately I was like, I was hurt. But I said, no. but it didn't happen and immediately i was like i was hurt but i said you know i'm gonna start writing these movies i'm gonna start creating my own show

i'm gonna start doing things that i know put the ball in my own hand had that robin happened i would have had a different. Where would you be right now had that happened? I don't know, probably cracked out somewhere because I wouldn't know what to do with that kind of success and money. But God put me on this journey to create. Look at what I've done. Look at what I've, because I took the long route. He didn't want me taking the shortcut. I had to take the long route because there was a lot I needed to learn.

There was jewels for me to gather all along the way. No, I didn't go straight to it. I went the long way. But look at all the shit that I know now. Look at all this that I know. And I'm going to make my way here. It's taking the long route, the scenic route. I way here it's taking a long route a scenic route i mean it's been a beautiful scene i mean you've had a full but i'm sitting there depressed that i didn't

get that part when i say everything is god i'm saying everything is not all bad sometimes the things that you think is failure is actually success is how do you interpret not just the business, but life. There's always good and bad. A bad relationship could teach you more than a good relationship. And maybe that wasn't the relationship for you because that next relationship, you get to apply all this stuff to the perfect woman. And now I am successful, so I'm grateful for the bad always being grateful for the bad and when i say everything is god you trust god there's a reason to happen so just keep doing the work wow don't let it discourage you speaking of relationships you it sounds like

you know you work 15 18 hour days for the last 30 years whether it be on a set or in your own mind in your own you know creative lab however that looks you're always working it seems like yeah touring traveling i don't have a day off writing yeah anything it's like you're always got work i don't have a day off how can you have healthy successful relationships when you're always working because people that love you understand they cheer for you yeah they don't want your time like that they don't want to pull from the thing that makes you you they want to see you shine they know your purpose and i've been lucky my first children's mother angela age was amazing amazing i never felt like man i can't do this and i can't

no baby go do it go do your work wow go do your work they know that this makes me happy and it provides for the family go do your work and to this day she's still my best friend and never bothers me your kids you ain't had enough time to kid my kids adore me but they know dad has to work and dad's doing his purpose and now they're grown and they're like hey i want to do my purpose and dad is inspiring people that love you cheer for you and they want you to be successful if they or if they want to spend some time they'll come on the road with you and even though you're playing these little you got to go from this and you're playing a rinky dink comedy club or whatever it is, if they want to support you and love you, they just care that they're with you and spending time with you. That's cool, too.

But never let somebody take away from you. This is me. And I'm going to invite people in my life that get me i need wrapping paper everybody's wrapping paper and i'm gonna do the same for you i'm gonna inspire you to be your best self as an individual i don't want to take your time i hope you blow up to be a big huge business i'm there to support you baby i'll get on a private plane it comes to you anyway you can be you can be the breadwinner i'm after a certain amount of time I'll retire I'll find you because I want you to be happy I don't like when people take right don't take from me let me do this

this is my purpose if I don't do this then I'm not living a purpose life I have to make people smile like a fireman that goes into buildings and rescues cats and people in a burning building. That is what comedy is. I go into a burning building to find this elixir called a laugh. So, yeah, sometimes you get burnt. Sometimes there's casualties. But, man, I'm here to try and make people feel good.

I have to do this. When you have had so much success as a movie star and a TV star and a comedian, why go to small town comedy clubs and spend all the time traveling around the country? Why spend the time doing that at smaller towns, smaller clubs, smaller venues now when you've had so much success? clubs smaller venues now when you've had so much success because why not just stay in the big cities and stay in la and new york and just kind of do your show three or four nights a week that way that's the shortcut that's the ego i i don't want to be surfaced i don't want to be i want to be the dude that did the work wow You respect the guy that had 50 fights before he ever, or 270 fights before

he finally got the opportunity to become a pro. To build his way up. To get the championship. At least to bout with the championship. Because there's a lot of knowledge and a lot of licks I gotta take. I have to learn the long way.

Or I'm just gonna be a paper champ. But you're 12, 14 years in. Stand up, right? Yeah, but everything is God. I'm not trying to be regular. I'm different. It's going to take me longer. Because I'm logging 10,000 hours, you know, outliers.

You log 10,000 hours in something and you can be great at it i've logged 10 000 hours in five different disciplines so i'm building something it's amazing wow i'm going to be different and that's going to take a long time and that's okay and i'm not i'm not cheating the process nobody could tell me i cheated the process i I didn't. I did the work. I worked in pizza shops. I could tell those stories. I did stand up at a pizza shop. I leave this pizza shop. It smelled like pizza.

Five people in there. Marlin Wayans on Scary Movie. $750 million in box office. I'm in a pizza shop. Really? In a coffee shop. In a dive bar. In a biker bar. doing stand-up comedy.

And all my peers, you know, Sidney Castillo and Esau and D.C. Irvin and all the guys I came up with. I didn't come up with Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle and those guys in stand-up. This is my, I come up with a different group of people because I started late. And so I'm playing catch-up i'm this is my i come up with a different group of people because i started late and so i'm playing catch-up and if i'm gonna play catch-up that means that every weekend i gotta work i don't care where it's at you learn in stand-up give me a microphone give me the right lights give me a good sound system give me some water give me a stool let's go i don't care where i'm at corporate event i don't care where i'm at who's in the crowd that's what are you trying to make money everywhere you go or is it sometimes just about the reps it's about the reps and you make money doing what you love i love what i do i'm not

going to work i'm going to play i get to play every weekend and you don't care if it's a dive bar give us even a little elite club like a improv whatever i have to go the long way before i play the garden i have to do this jury i gotta play winky's hot dogs before i do the garden i gotta do demore's pizza if you could pick a date the garden would happen in your future what would that date be where you're selling out at madison square garden obviously it's all god's timing i would say one by 55 55 three three years three years ago 55 yeah well i'm gonna make a note of that yeah what's the date give me the month and day that you would want to be selling out the garden for your birthday july 23rd july 23rd

all right three years yep 20 20 what is it 20 27 20 24 20 27 20 27 okay we're going let's go and if i don't make it there then it'll be 2028 if it don't make it man next year it's gonna happen you just keep doing it yeah so showing up i i'm telling you i see it man but i that's why i'm able to write material yes i still do the little clubs and stuff i'm just now starting to do bigger theaters i'm going on a theater tour wild child theater tour uh starting in september um check my website marlin uh marlin uh wayne's official uh for tickets and dates tour dates wild child tour so i'm going doing my theater tour now and i'm still building it with this new set i'm telling you now i got four specials under beneath me underneath me five four specials five

actually because i did handliners which was one i put all my friends on five specials and i did this in 12 years wow that's like on her that the space pace and i already know my next one analytics 3 after that i'm telling you there's something special happening because everything is coming together. What's, after 12 years of doing stand-up and obviously 30 years of being in comedy and creativity and artistry, what is the next level for you to really be at the, I guess you mentioned Chappelle and these other individuals who have mastered stand-up. What is where you are to where you want to be what's in the gap I think it's the prep I had to get the right team and not only that but I think you know for me I think every Kanye said something every artist got thinking themselves as a brand I don't need a manager as much as I do a CEO.

You need a CEO. Yeah. I need to start putting together my team of strategists and how we're going to move. Right now, it's all over the place. But I know after I get that big tour and I'm able to go, okay, now let's go. Let's put this in place.

This is how we're going to rock. I'm telling you. Next look. Who are the two or three guys or gals right now who are just doing it really well in stand-up that you think they've got the right team, they've got the right branding, they've got the right messaging on tour,

they've got the audiences, they're just, boom, every night. Dave Chappelle. Yeah. Dave, dave has the uh he's like bigfoot now if he comes everybody's going and you know why because he's masterful because the dude spends his life on a stage nobody has more hours long dave will do six hours of stand-up he He'll be asleep on the stage and wake up and tell you a joke. Like seriously,

I watch him be on stage drinking coffee, whiskey, and sleep for like a minute, looking down and wake up and have a joke. I think Kevin Hart has mastered the science of his business. You know? You know,

and he's proven that you can do it all. You don't have to just do stand-up which is great for me because i'm you've done a lot already right and now i can put it together like that oh we going i i'm at the point now you know i want to build i want to really build a real life studio i really want to because with my brand of humor i want a studio i want you know i want i want to i want to like a tyler perry i want to i want to mix all these people together to create marlin right and i know i can do it now that's my goal and the meetings i'm having sitting down with more hedge fund guys and sitting down with more people that want to invest money i

have an excellence and i mean a track record that's crazy you know we've made hollywood a billion dollars and if the investment more than a billion look at all the things we've done all the tv shows we created you know wayne's brothers still syndicated wayne's brothers you know probably cost i don't know a million dollars an episode. So that's a $100 million investment. And over the course of time, they probably made $500 million, $400 million. And Scary Movie, $19 million. Made $300 million.

Wow. 1,000%. I did a movie for a million dollars called Haunted House. I should have did it myself out of my pocket, but I did it with partners. OPP. And how much did it myself out of my pocket but i didn't have partners opp and how much is it how much did it bring in open to 19 million dollars went on to do 70 million dollars oh and if you would have put the hundred the million yourself i would have why wouldn't why not take those i still everybody made eight figures yeah yeah but I probably would have made 30 40 million

why not invest you know and make that investment yourself it's a million dollar I don't know I think because you I needed to learn

I don't want to take these leaps of faith without I'd rather a partner that knows yeah yeah and they can do the distribution

and the marketing and they know the distribution they know the right production team yeah of course you know they can help me and assist me why i don't need to be greedy if i own 50 of a movie it was 70 we 70 of a movie i own 70 of the movie you know i mean and of course we had uh in game who gave us the money for the promotion which was about 15 million dollars and then there was

open road who distributed us so you know you have partners so we all made money off of this these investments we all and i sold the out of it put me on a plane let's go from i did a 20 city tour sun up to sundown and i didn't even have a jet i got on american airline delta airline city to city i land i sleep three four hours to get up five o'clock in the morning i'm hitting morning shows i'm hitting the news i'm hitting the afternoon drive i'm going to the basketball game they're playing a trailer i'm getting on the last flight out and i'm going to the next city 25 cities and then i told them, I begged them. I was like, please, let me go overseas and do this.

And they was like, we're only going to send you to a couple of cities. I'm like, but this is me. I want to sell. I want to. Do the work. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to cheat nothing.

My mother said, if I could bottle your energy, boy, I'd be the richest woman on earth. Because I just have, I just have good intentions. I'm not going to cheat nothing. Right? If we do it, if I sit across from somebody and I go, I'm going to take your money. I don't want you to make $1 on that dollar you gave me. I want, if you give me $100. I want you to make 10, 20 times that.

I want you to make at least not because 20 if you made 20 or 100 that's good all right someone did it but if you made 100 you gave 100 and somebody brought you back 500 you're like what the yeah I'll keep reinvesting in that guy yeah yeah but but what you won't do if I'm going to do that I need to be responsible for my business I need to do everything in my power to make sure that I didn't fail anybody and if you give somebody money that's the passion

that you want from somebody you want to trust somebody you want somebody like okay cool go do it build what was the name Steve Jobs you trust them you build great computers and phones and trust them so stop people people in the market i'm putting my money in that that money returns your investment when you go i'm gonna give you a hundred dollars over i'm

gonna give you 10 million dollars to do a movie i'll make sure that the production is great and make sure the script is great make sure we cast the hello how to hell out of it and i'll make sure that we market i sit in all the marketing meetings and that i put this on my back and i get it exposed as much as possible now i need you to make sure that i'm not just doing promotion that you got marketing beneath it and then together we can hit this thing we can make this huge explosion and we've done it in the past i've done it in the past you know so i'm looking forward now to doing more of that wow so this is a you mentioned jim uh jim carrey he's a i'm a big fan of his work. Brilliant artist. But also when I saw the kind of mini documentary about him doing his art, his art studio, it opened a whole nother level of appreciation for him as an artist.

And then kind of his spiritual journey, I've been a fan of with his content around that as well, which it sounds like you bring a lot of God into your life also. So I respect that in you as well. I saw an interview clip of him about a year ago, maybe it was a year and a half ago, where he said he was retiring from making movies. Unless some like magical script comes to his door that he feels he's called to do. Jim made a lot of money.

He made a lot of money. Plus, Jim has always struggled with i think depression and other things you know he's brilliant but he always had some kind of torment and i think he just wants peace yeah and he gave a lot to the art he gave a lot to people you get tired of being that famous and that that that brother deserves to retire and have his peace these is his years of peace yeah and if he's happy then we should all be happy for him lead him in until he's ready to come out of because fame is a 24-hour job i can't clock out how do you navigate that i just love what i do yeah i ain't made it yet i ain't made it i didn't make it yet you know

what i'm saying one day he felt like he made it yeah i didn't make it i didn't make it yet so when i make it oh yeah i probably but i don't know if i ever will i think it's part of my matrix i just love it he said i would vacation you don't do vacation at all yeah man well i skipped this summer i was supposed to go to europe and i was i was with lake cuomo and i was like no i'm working on build this tour because i want to film my next special on 12 12 wow yeah because i want it out for next june in that interview he said something like the interviewer was saying why are why you done and he said i'm paraphrasing but he said i'm

going to say something that i don't think any celebrity in hollywood has the courage to say and that is i've done enough i have enough and i am enough and again maybe he's older uh now and he has done all these different things um but do you ever feel like you will get to that place or do you even want that do you want to be do you feel like you are enough i think it's 70 70 how does jim jim's probably 65 66 i think it's 70 i think it's 70 yeah but see i still have a young face right i could i could still play 35 you know i mean like these are my you turn the beard up you know oh yeah why'd you take this off it's crazy like baby face mustache it's crazy i don't i literally don't change you know i mean like and my body is still good i probably got a great 30 years ahead of me wow maybe 20 so definitely 20 hard years, 25 hard years. But 30 of working, yeah.

So, I mean, you've been in the business for 30-ish, 32 years, somewhere around there. If you could give three pieces of advice to yourself right before you started making money, right before you started getting on TV and doing movies 30 years ago, if you could give younger Marlon three pieces of advice, what would that be? if you could give younger Marlon three pieces of advice, what would that be? Of 30 years of experience and wisdom and failures and success and love and heartbreak. Get on stage as soon as you can.

Really? Learn the science behind your art. Stand-up will teach you how to be a writer, producer, director every night. You learn so much by doing stand-up comedy. Two. every night. You learn so much by doing stand-up comedy. Two, you don't worry about Hollywood. You are Hollywood. Hollywood needs you

more than you need Hollywood. That's true. Don't worry about so much feeding the business. Become a business. Be the business. Be the business become a business be the business be the business three put together writing groom your team from day one stay loyal communicative, bonded.

So you have a trust. Make sure that each one of you do something different. When you come together, you learn about each other's, you know, art and knowledge. And then you come meetings of the mind here. Right.

So you don't need to do stand up like I do. But you have, you need a strategist somebody has to play chess with you you can't it's hard i try to do it all i can't you're an artist yeah i'm i'm i was an artist i'm always gonna be an artist now you're a business mind and business yeah yeah that's what i'm really focused on i'm got that i'm gonna continue to work that and i'm gonna build that and i going to build the businesses that go with the business. But right now, I got to become the business.

And I have to, I've learned, you have to say it. And you have to mean it. And you have to work toward it. If you can't say it out loud and God can't hear you, then how are you going to get to where you have to get to? That's why I like you declared the date for your garden tour. I'm glad you asked me. Yeah.

July 23rd, 2027. That's my birthday and my mother's birthday. Wow. My mother, so. That would be a beautiful 55. Yes, sir. That's number one in numerology. I'm going to be so proud.

Look at my baby. I knew he was going to do it. You got to have a photo of her on the screen. I'm going to be so proud. Look at my baby. I knew he was going to do it. You got to have a photo of her on the screen. I'm going to cry that night. Not just because I made a million dollars from one show. I can see that, though. I mean, I can already see the future three years in the future. I hope it happens, and I'll be there.

I'll be there if it's happening. If it don't, we'll call back to this moment. Absolutely. I'll come do it again. If you could go, you've been in the business for 30 years and you said you'd want to go for another 30. If you could do a hypothetical for me and you could imagine your future self at 72. And if you can see your life from now until then and imagine all the things that are to

happen, the highs, the lows, the in-betweens, and if you could give yourself three pieces of advice from then to now, future Marlon, to today, what would he tell you today? Three things that you need to hear to really actualize your potential, your gifts, make sure you're taking care of your heart, feeling the love, being a good human being along the way, all these different things that you feel like, what do you need to hear from the future self? Discernment. Everybody deserves to eat.

Not everybody deserves to eat at your table. Cool. Who you invest your time with and spend your time with is it valuable or are you just wasting time wow don't waste your time time is the most valuable thing that you have every moment should be accounted for you should feel great about you learned something if you're not learning, you're dying. Two, don't continue this. Don't be the smartest guy in the world. Not that you're going to lose your circle,

but you could create another ring. Create a new ring of people that inspire you and you can learn from. Three, remember that in branding, you can create other brands. So as you create the brand of Marlon, what else is Marlon selling rather than brand what are

you interested in what's authentic to you i like smelling good you need a cologne i like my skin well you need a men's uh a men's skincare line skincare line i love good clothes. You need the clothing line. I love smoking cigars. You need a cigar company, which I do have. Ligo Tridente Experience Cigars. Check them out. They're delicious. You like to have your cocktails. What's your favorite drink?

I like bourbon. You need to create a bourbon or get into business with a great liquor company that you can market everywhere you go. Create great partnerships with your brand, with other great brands. And then don't forget that you're the brand, so protect it. Wow. And continue to stay out of trouble and stay away from knuckleheads and always be an honorable, considerate person and to stay humble as a person. Don't be so humble in your business. You have to own it. But be humble as a person because you can't bring that arrogance into

every day because you'll offend and hurt people. But sometimes business, you gotta be a shark. Period. You have to own it. Wow. This has been inspiring, Marlon. I've got a couple of final questions for you, but I'm grateful for the conversation. Go for it. It's been really beautiful. If you can imagine all your dreams coming true, which I believe they will,

and you get to live as long as you want, but it's the end of the day for you. but it's the end of the day for you. And if you could hear a message from your mom on that last day of your life, what would you want that message to be? Big boy, you did good. You made me proud. Your father proud.

I'm looking at God. He's smiling smiling you did right by our family we show the grandkids and the great grandkids and everybody was good you took care of your brothers and your sisters that I told you that I made for you and you've been a honorable child you made the world laugh I always knew you would. That's beautiful, man. Sounds like a beautiful mom. Your father and I.

I'll be waiting on you. Yes, sir. I feel so... I close my eyes and wake up hugging my parents. Do you have comments? I'll drink this water now it's beautiful man i know i know the the grief is uh something again your your special good grief you you allow you share a lot of this with the audience and it's uh it's beautiful to watch you continue to share openly and vulnerably about your relationship and the sadness and the joys and everything in between i don't cry about them a lot yeah it's just what i'm thinking about them yeah what's good is i've gotten through crying every day and now you get to that point i have to think about it i have to

visit it what does it feel like? You know, it's funny. Before, I think now I'm ready for whatever I've been asking God for. I know I'm ready. Even dramatically. Because I've always been a good dramatic actor. But I've had a very happy life. So it's hard for me to manufacture pain. And I could get to the tears but now since my parents gone i know i got wings because it's so easy for me to access those

those emotions i couldn't before i had to think about it when it this and what now just open to save wow let it out. Oh, man. That was beautiful. What do you wish more people would ask you? Because they ask you about all the people you know and you've worked with and the stories of the past and the celebrity and the fame and the money and the success and all the jokes,

but what do you wish they really asked you? I'm going to ask people if it's anything, everything. Probably what I'm afraid of. What are you afraid of? Death. I'm afraid of... Is it dying too soon, or dying before you reach your potential, or dying...

It's dying. I love life. Yeah, it's beautiful. And I have FOMO, and'm going to be so mad at you for spitting on my eye and I'm not there. I'm going to be hating from the ground. These kids. And then I think marriage.

You're afraid of marriage. Never been married because I never wanted to cheat on my wife. I'm a noble dude. You never wanted to cheat on your wife. I never wanted to cheat on my wife. And I never felt like I was ready for marriage until I hit my 50s. Really?

Yeah. You feel like you're ready now? Yeah. I can do it. You're still afraid? Yeah. But less. Yeah.

Because I'm much more stable. Even though I travel, I'm not in the clubs. I did everything I wanted to do. Right. Have fun everywhere. I did everything I wanted to do. Right. Yes. I did it all. And I'm just like, now I just, I don't want to, I want to do less. And I just, I just want to just hang out and chill and smile and enjoy my girl, enjoy my kids and my family. And you know, when I have that time, what do you think is available for you as a man and a human being when you get

married if you get married what's available for you what's the next level um i think it's i'll have a lot more i'll be able to accomplish a lot more more focused energy less distracted energy because i ain't i ain't going nowhere i ain ain't going anywhere. You're not texting everyone ever there. No, I'm not. I ain't following nobody on Instagram. I ain't got people DMing me. I follow them in person. That's all.

You know, my wife. And, you know, just being focused on my family, all the other noise and all that other stuff. I want to, at that point, I'm probably going to get a farm somewhere far away. Like Chappelle, living in my home state, you know, in Ohio. I've been to his place. Have you? It's nice.

Small town, Ohio, man. He will not move. I'm like, you're so rich. Because he doesn't need to, right? At least get a $10 million house. You can do it, Dave. You're rich. He has this little place that he hangs out.

In a little town? Yeah, no, his own little... On his house. Yeah, by his house. We call it the shack. And this didn't have no ice. He had like an ice machine that was spitting one cube of ice at a time. I'm like, yo, Dave.

I said, I love you. Get a $200 ice machine let's go yeah yeah i went and bought him an industrial ice machine i sent it to the damn shack i was like i can't let you live like that i can't come here and visit you without getting ice yeah yeah so he's like marlon you're a gentleman you don't think i bought me something that's funny so you know i i think it's it's i do to like a farm. I want a big palatial estate and put all my family on it and just have all these little, all these houses and just make everything, my family, my office and work, everybody right there, all my friends on a big, big land where we grow our fruits and our vegetables, live

off the land and just kick back on the porch and till it's time to ride out man it's beautiful any other fears death marriage skydiving yeah man water i haven't done that i don't like i do not like the ocean that drowned me three times like i'm good unless i got life vessel um that's all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think my fears, I've always feared disappointing people. But I don't anymore. Yeah.

That's part of life. But as long as I do everything in my power is not to, then as long as I'm doing my best, like sometime in business, you do a movie put all this stuff into it and then the movie doesn't perform well sometimes it's not your fault and you do everything in your powers yes to ensure that it was successful because if i did then maybe somebody else failed but i don't mind taking the blame.

Because taking the blame, I think that's when you grow. I'm here to grow in life. I'm here to get better. I'm here to improve. I don't mind some criticism. I don't. My brothers, I have the hardest critics in the world. My brothers, I think part of me taking so long to make it to where I want to make it,

because I got all these different voices in my head, and I'm trying to get all this approval from them. then I realized I don't want to be I don't want to do it that way I mean one time I was we took Kenan to Mykonos for his 60th birthday and we had a Sprinter van and um in the Sprinter van I was talking my brothers about stand-up and the state of business and I was like I mean it's talking about stand-up specials and i said i want to do one like every year year and a half and it's like that's stupid that's not gonna be funny yeah what kind of special is that that's a regular yeah they're stupid you can't it takes 20 years to put together a special these are my three brothers telling them.

That's it. I'm going to show y'all something different. I believe that I can do a great special every year and a half. And here's why. Because I get bored with telling the same jokes. I don't need to perfect the jokes. I don't need that much time to rehearse. Because I remember things.

I remember scripts. I write. I get tired of doing the same material. Every night I'm doing something different. I like to do different stuff. I want to hurry up and put this out and perfect it and talk about some new stuff. They're like, that's not the way it goes. You got to work the same material for five years. You have to work the same material five years. I don't have to. I went to performing arts high school. I could. I could. It's in me.

I can do a sitcom in three days and and kill it on Thursday so Monday just a table read Tuesday we do network run through and a little bit of rehearsal Wednesday we do block and tape Thursday I'm filming from a live audience and I'm crushing it so if I could do a sitcom where they keep changing the script and I'm learning all these new lines and I could do that in a matter of four days. Why the hell I can't do a special in a year and a half? Real stupid. They get in the van.

Sean, that's the dumbest thing I ever heard of. And then my brother David, he looks back and goes, you know, Ugly, he said, you know ugly little nickname for me he said you know I ain't trying to burst your bubble it's damn near impossible

but if you think that you can do it show them anyway I hope that it's funny and he left and from that day on I was like

okay and I'm not gonna show him in the anger no I'll show you no I'm gonna show you that it can be done and you guys can do

the same thing and here's how I did it wow that's beautiful that's beautiful where should people follow you and support you online you got the tour coming out you're on a wild child tour marlon wayne's official get your tickets uh hurry up you can get a discount i am doing meet and greets so i'm gonna be doing meet and greets so you get the chance to come meet me uh check it out

um i'm probably gonna put an option to get my album it's the live at the apollo which is the taping of good grief but there's a lot of jokes that isn't in there that you can find golden nuggets um and also online uh for instagram at marlon wayans x or twitter um marlon wayans uh facebook Marlon Wayans I have two pages one is personal the other one is fan page sign up both and lastly

I'm on TikTok but yeah I forgot I think it's Marlon Wayans on TikTok Snapchat it's weird but find me

every now and then I'll pick it up and I'll do some voices and characters but Marlon Wayans and yeah and also

don't forget to I got my tour my special Good Grief voices and characters, but Marlon Way. And, uh, yeah. And, uh, also, uh, don't forget to, I got my tour, my special good grief on Amazon prime. My other specials, if you want to find them, woke issues on, um,

Netflix. And then, you know, what it is, is on HBO max, as well as good grief and headliners on HBO max. Make sure you check them out. And, uh, I got a lot of great things coming for you.

And 30-some years in the game, and I'm just beginning. It's amazing, man. It's amazing, man. We'll have it all linked up for everyone in the description as well. But I've got one final question for you, Marlon, before I ask it. Is this going to make me cry? No. No.

You already did that. Before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you, Marlon, for what it looks to be, you know, this is the first time we've met, but you know, I've seen your work online and we've got some mutual people in common who've said great things about you. But what it looks to be is you've really tapped into a different level of spiritual growth, even though you've been connected to God your whole life and your father brought that to you since you were very young and that's been a part of your life, but it sounds like you're unlocking a different level of spiritual growth in your creative service to the world. It's not just about how can I be funny and make money and get the laugh, but how can I be funny, get the laugh, and serve and help others in whatever story that I'm telling?

How can I be of service in my art? Yes. And it's something my fiance does really well is thinking about how she can serve in her comedies that she does as well as a writer and actor. And I'm just really happy you're doing that. I'm really happy that you are using, you know, 50 years of your life experience and talents and gifts that God keeps pouring into you to also think about serving on the highest level. Whether you're doing it at a donut shop for five people at a stand-up or when you're selling out the garden in three years on July 23rd to 30,000,

I appreciate that you're thinking in that way of service. And it just makes me feel happy to know that. It's funny, I don't go to church because I realize I can service God better by being at church. So when they come to see my shows that I'm giving them God's word without being preaching, you get it through comedy, you get it through, but there's always this spirit.

And I am of service. I want people to be happy. Happy is important for me. I want everybody to be happy, including myself. That's beautiful, man. My final question, Marlon, what's your definition of greatness? then your authentic self point of view and voice reach the masses and did everybody trust does everybody trust from people the fans to the business to the business, to the money people trust you with your vision of what you

see yourself and your business as greatness to me is not a destination I read a book called The Alchemist and in that book there's a little boy that wants to see the pyramids

end of the book, you've never seen the pyramids but he's on a road to see the pyramids end of the book you've never seen the pyramids but he's on a road to see the pyramids and to me greatness is the road that I'm traveling the destination is an illusion as long as I'm

walking toward being my best me I'm headed toward greatness. Yeah. And part of greatness is ultimate joy and happiness. And to me, that's greatness. I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today's show with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me as well as ad-free listening

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