What the Hell Happened to Damon Wayans & Jim Carrey?

http://lebeauleblog.com/2014/10/18/what-the-hell-happened-to-damon-way ans/2/

In 1990, Wayans and his brother Keenen created their own sketch comedy show for the Fox network. The show’s name, In Living Color, reflected the fact that the cast was predominantly black. The show was a family affair for the Wayans. Damon and Keenan were joined by siblings Kim, Shawn, and Marlon. The cast also included Wayans’ Earth Girls Are Easy co-star, Jim Carrey and David Allen Grier who had appeared in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. Tommy Davidson was in the original cast and Jamie Foxx joined during the third season. Even the show’s dance troupe, the Fly Girls, contained future stars. Jennifer Lopez was a dance and Rosie Perez was the troupe’s choreographer.

In Living Color would launch several of its cast members to stardom. But Damon Wayans was the show’s first breakout star. His characters like Homey D. Clown, Blaine Edwards and Handi-Man were featured regularly. And his catch-phrases like “Homey don’y play dat” became part of the lexicon.

Despite the popularity of In Living Color, the Wayans were constantly at odds with the network. Fox was uncomfortable with some of the humor and frequently censored the show. Things came to a head when In Living Color produced a half-time special during the Super Bowl. During a Men on Film sketch, Wayans suggested that track runner Carl Lewis was gay much to Lewis’ chagrin.

Just to clarify, Fox was not running the Super Bowl that year. By airing In Living Color during the half time show, they managed to lure between 20 and 25 million viewers away from the CBS broadcast.

After two years of fighting with the network, Keenen stopped appearing in sketches on In Living Color in 1992. In the show’s fourth season, Keenen appeared only in the premiere episode although he remained on board as executive producer. Damon was the clear break-out star in the early seasons. After the third season, he left the show to focus on a movie career.

In 1990, just as In Living Color was taking off, Wayans did voice work on Look Who’s Talking Too. The first movie in the talking baby series had been a surprise hit for John Travolta and Kirstie Alley in 1989. It actually sparked a bit of a pre-Pulp Fiction come-back for Travolta and made it look like Alley might have a future in film post Cheers. But the quickie sequel the next year killed their career momentum.

Carrey had spent the better part of the 80s paying his dues. But he was still an unknown. That changed in 1990 when Carrey was cast on the sketch comedy show, In Living Color. The Fox program was created by Damon and Keenan Ivory Wayans whose brother. Damon had befriended Carrey while making Earth Girls Are Easy.

The show features a mostly African-American cast including several members of the Wayans family. Carrey stood out as the only white male on the show. Over the course of five years on In Living Color, Carrey developed recurring characters like Fire Marshal Bill and female body builder Vera de Milo.

By the time the show ended in 1994, Carrey was one of the few original cast members left.