Wayans stays busy, shuns the Hollywood limelight

Bridgit Brown

It’s been almost two years since a new episode of his sitcom “My Wife and Kids” last aired on TV, but the sharp-witted Damon Wayans has not lost his comedic edge.

When asked what he’s been up to these days, the sarcastic Wayans replied, “I just got out of jail … comedic jail.” In truth, he’s returned to his roots as a standup comic for his latest venture, an online comedy site called Wayouttv.com.

The third of 10 children, Wayans began his career as a regular on “Saturday Night Live” before taking on big-screen supporting roles alongside comic greats like Eddie Murphy in “Beverly Hills Cop,” Steve Martin in “Roxanne” and his big brother Keenen Ivory Wayans in “Hollywood Shuffle” and “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.” He would later team with his brother again as a writer and co-star on the Emmy Award-winning FOX comedy series “In Living Color.”

While on his way to Boston to perform at the Comedy Connection last Saturday, Wayans took a few moments to speak with the Banner about his new project, his inspirations and his experiences in Hollywood.

Can you tell me what you’ve been up to these days, and what projects you have in the pipeline?

I’ve been doing standup, trying to rehabilitate myself, go back to being funny, go back to not caring and having a voice. It’s hard to have success, because with success comes guilt and you start holding yourself back, and you start worrying, and saying, “Well, if I say that, it will get in the paper, and people will perceive it wrong.” At this point, I’m back to, “I don’t care.”

I’m working on an Internet venture. Having been through many television shows and the politics of network TV, I decided that the Internet is changing the game, and I decided to plant my flag as the HBO and BET of the N-E-T. I’m talking about streamlining shows. I’m doing sketches, it’s called “Wayouttv.com” and it’s going to launch June 1.

It’s basically a smorgasbord of comedy and we have one sequence which is a puppet reality show, as if the puppet is really real, and he wants to be an actor in Hollywood. He has a little puppet porn site where he makes his money. We have “Nice Man” — he’s a killer, but he kills whenever he’s in an embarrassing situation, like if someone sees him picking his nose while he’s in the car or if he sneezes and farts and he can’t take the embarrassment and he doesn’t want anybody to know. We have “Abortion Man” — not many people find that funny, but he’s a superhero, and he’s a reverend. We have Snigger Bar, a big, black chocolate bar. Hungry? Why wait?

“In Living Color” stands out as a classic to many thirtysomethings who grew up watching the show. With your Showtime series, “The Underground,” are you trying to revive “In Living Color?”

“The Underground” isn’t going to happen. We amicably agreed not to go forward. I’m doing “The Underground” online. It’s a funny show, but unfortunately Showtime does not promote non-scripted shows, so it was a little frustrating for me. But online, it’s basically free sketch TV. I think I was trying to find the next generation [of comedic performers], but the politics of it was that [the network] wanted me in all of the sketches. I didn’t want to be in all the sketches; I did too much. I wrote, produced, directed and [appeared] in all the sketches, and it was a bit much for me, and I wasn’t able to really realize the vision, but through “Way Out TV,” I’m able to do all of that.

What challenges have you experienced being a black comic in Hollywood?

The challenge of being a black comic is not to fall into the “angry black preacher comic” voice. I watch a lot of these comics and either they’re too black and there are no other references that they’re talking about or they’re not even dealing with race. To me, a real comedian deals with all subject matter, and a lot of these cats don’t.

There are too many places where comics can go with other people’s materials. When I was coming up, there was only the Johnny Carson show (“The Tonight Show”), and everybody waited in line and had to perfect their acts so that they could get on that show. Now you can get on Leno, Lettermen, Ellen, you can go do standup at BET.

They have all these different places so comics don’t really work on their crafts, and black comics really don’t work on their crafts … because they don’t have that many black comic clubs and all these other comic clubs are having “Black Night.” One night a week, they’ll have a black show, and then a Midget Mondays, and a Mexican Tuesday and then the Black Night. It’s not fair. They don’t get the stage time that they need to develop the act that they should develop. It’s all about having a voice. Richard Pryor’s voice was different from Bill Cosby’s voice.

Is there any sort of mentoring happening amongst black comics or some type of dialogue that brings to light some of the issues that you just raised?

Absolutely not, because everybody’s trying to be “The Only.” We still have that mentality that says, “I’m going to be the only one.” Nobody’s trying to work together. I’m pushing to put me, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle on tour. That’s what I want to do, but will it happen? I pray that it does, because it’s a statement. Individually, we can all sell out different venues, but collectively, I think it makes for an event that will definitely sellout and cross boundaries.

Aside from the role you played in “Bamboozled,” have you ever considered acting in another genre outside of comedy?

Yes, I would love to do some drama. I love creating the tension. I think a lot of comedians have the chops to be great dramatic actors because all comedy is creating the tension, and then you break it with humor. Most of us know how to walk that line. The problem is that we think that if we’re in a drama we have to be uninteresting. To me, great actors are guys like Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, [Robert] DeNiro and [Al] Pacino, and it’s because they find the humor. Jack Nicholson, this guy can mug like anybody else, he’s almost as animated as Jim Carrey, but he can walk a fine line to make you emotionally engaged in the character and be entertained and amused, even when he’s doing a dark character.

Have you found that Hollywood has typecast you as a comedian?

No, I removed myself from Hollywood a long time ago. I don’t have agents, I don’t have a manager. I just have an attorney and I generate my own projects. A lot of people think that I’m out of the game because they don’t know what I’m doing. If I got back into show business, yeah, I could be put back into a drama or comedy. I don’t think people question my abilities. I’m just not on the radar.

Of all of the roles that you’ve played, which has been your favorite?

I can’t say that I like any role better than any other — I just love the fact that I’m still in the game. So there’s no favorite role. I love every character that I’ve played. Homey D. Clown [an ex-con turned children’s party entertainer from “In Living Color”], that’s a part of me. Blaine Edwards [one of two gay film critics in the recurring “Men on Film” sketch from “In Living Color”], that’s a part of me. I wear little hats like that.
Who were some of the people that have influenced your work?

Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy … my brother Keenen, really, because I wouldn’t have been doing standup if it wasn’t for him. He started doing it first. He left Tuskegee [University] six months [before completing] his engineering degree and he decided he was going to come out to California and make it doing standup. My parents were not happy, especially my mother because he was one of the first in our family to go to college, out of 10 kids. So he took a chance, and he’s been my hero ever since.

So there’s him, Robert Townsend, and just being around Denzel, who I knew when he used to drive a Datsun 280Z. I knew Arsenio Hall before his show — we all used to go out to eat and share one big order of fries. Those were the guys that inspired me. Eddie Murphy, I knew him when he would come to the projects while he was doing “Saturday Night Live.” He would come upstairs and hang out with Keenen, and there would be roaches all around, and here was this guy that just got out of a Mercedes and hung out with the family.

How does it feel to know that your show, “In Living Color,” was a springboard for the success of so many celebrities like Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey and even Jennifer Lopez?

It makes me really look up to my brother Keenen even more. That was his vision and it makes me see how this man truly had an eye for talent and the ability to nurture it, and to graciously step back and let people do what they wanted to do.

At the time, Keenen could have been a hog, been in every sketch, and tried to make it “The Keenen Wayans Show,” but he chose to take this group of hungry comics and just let us go crazy. That’s rare in show biz — most of the time they build the show around them, and make it “The Keenen and Friends Show.”

I read that last year you were engaged in a fight to trademark the n-word. Is this true? If so, what are your reasons for wanting to do this?

Yes, I wanted to trademark the n-word — “nigger” — because I felt that we were saying it too much. It was a statement, really. I wanted to own the word and threaten to charge people to say it. When you register a patent, you have to say what it’s for, so I said it was for a clothing line. That’s the only way you can get it. You have to have a reason. You can’t say that you just want the word. I saw [former “Seinfeld” star and comedian] Michael Richards coming before he even got on stage. I saw it coming. I would have gotten rich off of that.