{"id":62852,"date":"2012-03-03T19:24:16","date_gmt":"2012-03-03T19:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2012\/03\/03\/keenan-ivory-wayans-in-living-color-return-to-tv\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T13:42:37","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T13:42:37","slug":"keenan-ivory-wayans-in-living-color-return-to-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/keenan-ivory-wayans-in-living-color-return-to-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"Keenen Ivory Wayans Talks In Living Color’s Return To TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keenen Ivory Wayans Talks In Living Color’s Return To TV<\/strong>By Fred Topel<\/p>\n

March 3, 2012<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fox network turns 25 this year and they\u2019re bringing back one of their seminal shows to celebrate. Keenen Ivory Wayans<\/strong> is prepping a new In Living Color<\/strong> to air later this year. He spoke with the Television Critics Association<\/strong> earlier this year about his plans.<\/p>\n

In Living Color was a groundbreaking sketch comedy show that launched the careers of Jim Carey, Jamie Foxx<\/strong> and even Jennifer Lopez<\/strong>. It was a Wayans family effort that also included Damon, Kim<\/strong> and Shawn<\/strong>. It ran from 1990 to 1994.<\/p>\n

Wayans is now recruiting new talent and writing sketches for the modern incarnation of In Living Color. In this interview he talks about his vision for what we\u2019ll see when In Living Color returns to Fox.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s idea was it to revive In Living Color?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keenen Ivory Wayans:<\/strong> Of course it was my idea. It was mine. I just felt that looking at the landscape of television and comedy in general, it was just time. It was a good time to bring at least the idea of the show back. All the folks had gone onto do such great things and there\u2019s the lure of the show, but enough time had passed where we wouldn\u2019t be competing with that. Jim Carrey\u2019s now known as a movie star and Damon from doing his sitcom. Jennifer Lopez is a mega-star but it\u2019s the lure that people remember most. So I just thought now would be a good time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Will you and Damon be in the new show?<\/strong>
\n <\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> I\u2019m gonna host it. I\u2019m reaching out to all the cast to just come on and do guest spots but none of them are gonna be regulars on the show. So it\u2019s really just to launch it and then it\u2019s going to be all about the new cast.
\n <\/strong><\/p>\n

Besides the cast, how else will it be different from the old show? Will the format change?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> No, I think the format is going to be close to what it was. I think tonally it\u2019ll be close to what it was but I think that now we have so much more than we had back then. 25 years ago you didn\u2019t have social media. You didn\u2019t have reality TV. You didn\u2019t have the level of consumerism that we have now. This generation is funny in itself, just the values that they have. So I just think the well is so much deeper.<\/p>\n

Do you meet people now who grew up with In Living Color and have better comic sensibilities because of it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> Well, I think there\u2019s some truth to that but also I think it\u2019s the fact that this generation is far more socially integrated than 25 years ago. White kids, black kids, Asian kids, they\u2019re all sort of part of the hip hop generation. You can see it in a kid like Aziz Ansari. He\u2019s Indian but he\u2019s American and I think there are so many voices out there that weren\u2019t 25 years ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Do the sketches have to be shorter this time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> What\u2019s funny is that when I did the show initially, I never allowed any sketch to be more than five minutes because I knew then that the attention span was waning. So I think that it does allow us to do what I call the one-joke premise. Sometimes you\u2019ll se a one-joke premise that keeps going. That\u2019s not the way to do it. The way to do it is get the joke and go. Now you\u2019re in the mindset of viewership that allows for that. They don\u2019t mind something that\u2019s 15 seconds.
\n
\nWhen do you plan to be on air?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW: <\/strong>Well, we\u2019re going to air late spring.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Is this just a one episode special?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> We\u2019re doing two half hours as a pilot for the show.<\/p>\n

As you look back, what strikes you about the original show as revolutionary?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> I guess what strikes me about it is how little we knew that we were being revolutionary. We were just a bunch of kids who were being funny. The world told us that it was revolutionary.<\/p>\n

When you look back at what was considered edgy, can you believe we\u2019re used to it now and take it for granted?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> Yeah, I think In Living Color now wouldn\u2019t be considered edgy, not at all. It\u2019d be considered funny but not edgy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Is that a good thing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> Well, I think subject matter would still be edgy, but tonally television has gone much further. You couldn\u2019t even bleep a curse word back then. Now you have a whole show of just bleeps.
\n
\nWhat was different about Fox when you first got there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW: <\/strong>What was different at the time was that it was like a scrappy kid. It wasn\u2019t trying to be like the other networks. Fox wanted to be different and they said that to me when they brought me in. The first time I met with them, that was part of what attracted me to doing it because at the time I wasn\u2019t trying to do television, I was trying to do film. The idea that I can be in a place and do anything I wanted to do and that they would be supportive of that, that was exciting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You were upset when In Living Color lost the Emmy to the Oscar broadcast. Why is this show so important to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> Because the work that not just I put into it but everybody on the show put into it, you never do things for awards but if there is an award, if you feel like what you put out there is better, then you expect to win.<\/p>\n

When you won the Emmy you got emotional.<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> It was emotional for me because, as I tried to say in my speech, I had never won anything. My mom had come to all those graduations and I never got an award. So I finally got one and it was a big deal.<\/p>\n

What do you feel the Wayans name means to audiences now, with the film legacy of Scary Movie and White Chicks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> I think that people look for us to do something that\u2019s outside the box, and it\u2019s almost like a blessing and a curse because we can\u2019t do just an ordinary comedy. So it makes us have to work a little harder.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What is it like to be able to work with your family in general?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> Let\u2019s see. It is 99% of the time the best experience ever.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That other 1%?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> It\u2019s madness but it\u2019s family. We have good checks and balances. Somebody always mediates. No matter how hot it gets, we\u2019re always able to sit down and work it out.<\/p>\n

Have you ever considered going back to late night?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> That was such a grind because I had such high expectations for what I wanted to do and realized that that\u2019s not what late night was, that people don\u2019t want to work that hard. I remember somebody said to me, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be funny. You just have to be humorous.\u201d I said, \u201cI don\u2019t know what that means. I don\u2019t know how to be humorous.\u201d Meaning that late night TV, people are watching that before they go to sleep. They want you to rock them. They don\u2019t want you to wake them up. They want you to rock them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Will you be involved in the Skank Robbers movie with Jamie Foxx and Martin Lawrence?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> No.
\n
\nHow do you feel about Jamie wanting to revisit that character?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIW:<\/strong> It\u2019s fine. It\u2019s his character. I don\u2019t have a problem with that. I hope he comes on the show and does it.<\/p>\n

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