For decades, the Wayans Brothers managed to remain a fixture of TV and movies.
Siblings Keenen Ivory, Damon, Kim, Shawn, and Marlon Wayans all appeared on the hit
sketch comedy In Living Color, and when that series concluded, Keenan turned to directing
Scary Movie and other hits.
"I'm on TV?
Oh s---.
First Cops, now this?
I'm gonna be a star, son."
Meanwhile, Damon Wayans starred in hit TV shows like My Wife and Kids, and Shawn and
Marlon became a successful comedy duo.
Nowadays, though, we don't see as much of the Wayans family as we used to — and here
are a few reasons why that might be.
Audience fatigue
After In Living Color ended, most of the Wayans headed from TV to film and proceeded to dominate
two parallel sub-genres: parody movies, and broad, "gimmicky" movies.
There's the Scary Movie franchise, directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans, and co-written by
and starring Shawn and Marlon Wayans.
Meanwhile, Shawn and Marlon also spearheaded the 2004 film White Chicks and 2006's Little
Man.
Both of those oddball films earned respectable box office tallies, but audiences grew tired
of their zany schtick pretty quickly after that, so when the Wayans released Dance Flick
in 2009 — fans largely refused to turn up, slowing down the family's filmmaking momentum.
Flip flop
Reboots and reunion shows are popular right now, but that hasn't panned out for the Wayans
family while trying to recapture their In Living Color magic.
Damon Wayans attempted to return to the TV sketch comedy scene in 2006, but his effort
was short-lived at best.
Airing on Showtime and marketed as "In Living Color on steroids," his series The Underground
was canceled after just one season.
Soon after, the Wayans almost had another throwback opportunity, after Fox announced
that two In Living Color specials would air as a part of the network's 25th anniversary
slate in 2012.
Keenan Ivory Wayans would be back as an executive producer, but the cast would be all new.
But then April 2012 came and went, and then so did a tentative May 2012 air date.
In January 2013, Wayans told the New York Post that In Living Color 2.0 wasn't happening,
saying:
"The bar for In Living Color is so high that, if I didn't feel like we could sustain that,
then I did not want to move forward."
On the road
The Wayans family might not be making as many movies or sketch comedy series anymore, but
that doesn't mean they've given up trying to entertain the masses with their signature
sense of humor.
In 2014, the four major Wayans guys—Keenan, Damon, Shawn, and Marlon—went on a joint
comedy tour.
It was called, appropriately enough, The Wayans Brothers Tour.
The quartet played theaters and casinos across the country, and it was so successful that
a year later, another Wayans comedy roadshow kicked off -- this time, featuring Shawn and
Marlon Wayans, along with Damon Wayans, Jr.
Meanwhile, Kim Wayans has moved on a to a new career as a children's book author.
With her husband, Kevin Knotts, Wayans wrote seven books in the Amy Hodgepodge series.
The next generation
The reign of the Wayans has lasted a long time, even if you might not realize it.
While the original Wayans brothers have taken their show on the road, there's a new batch
of Wayans performers earning some screen time now.
Damon Wayans, Jr. starred on New Girl, as well as on the cult favorite Happy Endings,
among other screen projects.
Meanwhile, Craig Wayans and Damien Dante Wayans co-created and starred on a short-lived BET
comedy series called Second Generation Wayans, in which they played fictionalized versions
of themselves who had a hard time making it in the entertainment industry.
Last but not least, Keenen Wayans Jr. and Chaunte Wayans have been following in their
family's footsteps by hitting the comedy stage, too.
Comeback time
In addition to the stage, some of the Wayans seem to be focusing their attention on the
small screen right now.
Marlon Wayans co-wrote and starred in Naked, a Netflix original film about a guy stuck
in a Groundhog Day-like time loop, and in the summer of 2017, NBC aired his family sitcom
Marlon, which earned a second season from NBC.
Meanwhile, Damon Wayans is the star of Fox's Lethal Weapon reboot series.
So, they might not be the hottest family in Hollywood anymore, but the Wayans are definitely
still working their way back to the top.
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