Marlon Wayans remembers when his family stood up for In Living Color creator Kenan Ivory against the network.
Created by Keenan Ivory Wayans, sketch comedy series In Living Color was a smash when it first aired, nabbing the Emmy in its category for its debut season, beating out the likes of SNL, David Letterman and Tracy Ullman. But that would only last so long, as the key players behind the show — the Wayans Brothers — would have a falling out with the network which led to an ultimately short run.
As Marlon Wayans recounted on the Club Shay Shay podcast (via People), In Living Color found themselves being hoodwinked by Fox, who had put the show on the syndication market without making proper compensation for its creator. “I remember when we left In Living Color because Fox was syndicating the show and it was hurting Keenen’s pockets. Keenen was like, ‘Nah, you ain’t gonna do this to me. My family said, ‘F*ck this money.’ And we all left In Living Color.”
The Wayans are a huge family, with Keenan Ivory, Marlon, Shawn, Damon, and Kim all having various roles throughout In Living Color’s run. So with numbers like that working against Fox, that’s going to present a domino effect. This was put into action during a Christmas episode in which the gang wore sunglasses on stage and refused to actively participate in the sketch. As Marlon summarized it, “You ain’t going to f*ck my brother. We a family. You touch one, you touch all.”
With the Wayans brothers falling out with Fox, that would eventually built to In Living Color going off the air after just five seasons. It might feel like it lasted longer but that’s partly because of the impact it had. Too rarely were minorities being represented in that sort of capacity on television, so when you’re having representation on a weekly basis — in such a funny arena — it leaves a significant mark. In Living Color also served as a launching point for the likes of Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, Tommy Davidson, David Alan Grier, and Jennifer Lopez, who served as one of the show’s Fly Girls.
Were you a fan of In Living Color? What were some of your favorite sketches?
