Wayans stands up for his comedy
Audience connection offers another avenue for laughs, he says
Marlon Wayans says he never took stand-up comedy seriously. It's a bit of a surprise, considering the actor and writer has spent the bulk of his career starring in movies that play up his gift for physical humor and comedic timing.
Yet here he is, a comedic legacy, in th e biz for more than two decades, on his first stand-up tour, which comes to Houston Friday. "Now I see it as a means to make me a better writer, meet my audience and hear their laughs live,” Wayans says about his change of perspective. “I don’t need to ask anyone’s opinion; I just do what’s in my gut. It’s between me and my audience, and I tweak it as I go.”
Wayans, of course, hails from a family of comedians with whom he’s collaborated since his career started in the early 1990s, appearing on the comedy show “In Living Color” — which was created by his brother Keenan and starred his brother Damon.
It’s his work with brother Shawn that has defined much of Marlon Wayans’ career. Films such as “White Chicks” and the parody franchise “Scary Movie” featured the two brothers prominently. The movies enjoyed box-office success. Critics, however, have excoriated Wayans’ work — something he’s aware of but unconcerned about because of the difficulty in judging a subjective art like comedy.
“What’s beautiful is, I get to have the last laugh. If you look at my last three movies, I’ve probably had a combined score of 7 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. And then when you see how the audience has received my movies — you see they get it. I work
my way to be critic proof.”
However, his career could be a prime example of Hollywood’s diversity problem; he once described himself as “being in Hollywood’s janitor closet.”
In a fair world, Wayans would have been offered at least the same type of dramatic and comedic roles by outside production companies as fellow comedian Jim Carrey, whose career was launched alongside Wayans with “In Living Color.” Instead, Wayans had to create his own opportunities through the family business. In the place of resentment, Wayans carries abundant gratitude for his success, contentment for a career he loves and excitement for the future.
“I don’t complain. I don’t ever get mad. It’s not my time; the studios will know when it’s my time. Instead, it invigorates me to continue working hard. I don’t question God’s will; I don’t want anybody else’s career, only the one God set out for me.”
Having grown up in the housing projects of New York, Wayans gives back to his community through the Hudson Guild, a community outreach group that supports education, health and arts programs in the neighborhood. He also sits on the board of the Creative Coalition, which promotes arts advocacy in schools.
The community service and his entertainment work ensure Wayans should have a positive legacy, but he has a more specific goal for how he wants to be remembered.
“I want you to have a smirk on your face when you think of me, like the smiles people have with Prince and Michael Jackson. I want people to think I lived and died my comedy. And when I’m gone, I don’t want tears unless they’re tears of laughter.”