Marlon Wayans is on a heater. No doubt about it. He’s been going non-stop since he was fifteen doing background stuff on In Living Color as the baby boy in what was to become the Jackson 5 of Comedy, the most brilliant funny family since the Marx bros.
He later busted out with his childhood bunk mate, brother Shawn, creating hit sitcoms and movies pretty much one after another for a good twenty five years. He’s also proved himself several times to be a fine actor with Darren Aronofsky and several other directors. The core thing about Marlon though is that he’s always been a work in progress. There’s no doubt about that.
Just look at this clip going crazy viral from the Daily Show last week. You feel so bad for this guy. Marlon has no fear here. He’s so into this character Quon, that he doesn’t even understand he’s destroying this guy.
He’s pushed himself time and time again to come up with new hills, buildings and boundaries to get over. New buttons to push. He’s perpetually uneasy with where he’s at in life which is a good journey creatively, even if it comes with a lot of baggage. I’m sure being the little brother your whole life doesn’t help, but if always chasing the milk cart through town your whole life is what gets you to great, Marlon doesn’t seem to be complaining.
The stand up thing that his brothers all took to with ease out of the gate came to him much later. He even talks in God Loves Me, an adventurous as can be one hour, one story special about his feelings on the infamous Chris Rock / Will Smith ‘Slap’ about Chris Rock messing with him onstage at the Laugh Factory very early on and putting a slap on him that stung for years. A slap that came to be one of the best gifts he ever got. Like a lot of his stuff, he cribbed from his life and just stayed with it, learned from his older brothers and comics like Rock about the gold there was to mined in fearlessness, and figured out how not to care about anything but getting laughs and pushing himself to create.
With his new special Good Grief, out now on Amazon Prime, Marlon has planted a bold flag. Mining the loss of his parents, the truths of his childhood, and the pain of getting older. He wants to be taken serious in the same lane of funny as his brother Damon, Dave Chappelle, Chris and even Mt. Olympus, Richard Pryor. I will say, in my opinion, with this hour, not only is he close to getting there, but he’s no doubt someone capable of working his way up into that rare air. He has the talent, the drive, the guts, the time on the boards behind him, as well as the deep need.
Marlon’s best years are coming just up the road now. He’s going to be someone that was right here in front of our eyes all these years and then, whamm, I could easily see him dropping an hour that’s going to floor everyone. He’s going to do in his mid-fifties what Rock did with Bring the Pain in his mid-thirties. Watch.
Check him out on the road. He’s out there everywhere these days. See him live. That’s the fun.
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Also, Monday night. The Laugh Factory, Hollywood.
Thanks for reading. Subscribe and share this for me, thanks!
Also, Monday night. The Laugh Factory, Hollywood.
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