Marlon Wayans, the 49-year-old comic and writer-producer, can’t complain.
He’s the rare comic who has made a path for himself in dramatic roles, like opposite Jennifer Hudson in the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect or opposite Rashida Jones in the Apple TV+ film On The Rocks, yet like Adam Sandler and few others, he’s still able to headline, write or direct his own comic films like Netflix’s Sextuplets. On top of that he’s inked a deal with HBOMax and he’s able to fill comedy club rooms literally everywhere he goes.
In the words of the funny guy himself, “Life is beautiful, I can’t complain — haven’t had a bad day since my mama died.”
Then if everything is hunky dory, what’s on Marlon’s mind when it comes to crafting his material for a stand-up career that’s been thriving for the past 12 years? Turns out, there’s plenty bubbling underneath his affable surface. “I think we are in a recession in terms of like a society,” he muses in a direct tone. “Not even a financial recession, we’ve recessed in terms of our thinking, it terms of our ability to love. The process of a laugh, and for us to not be so sensitive. I think right now we’re in this divot, and we’re climbing our way out.”
After pausing his tour during COVID, he’s happy to see stand-up making progress to returning to full attendance again. But he answers a simple question simply: “I don’t think we’re back, yet. I don’t think we’re back as a society because of the threats of it all. But I do think we’re coming back. I’ll know we’re back when not because of the size of the audience or whether they’re wearing masks or not, I think we’ll know we’re back because it’s beyond COVID.”
Hitting similarly echoed points about our reaction happy culture in decidedly less polarizing terms than his contemporaries, it’s clear Marlon is aiming to speaking his truths without dividing nor conquering his audience. “I’m not trying to shine a light,” he says. “I am a light, OK? Because just the practice of doing comedy every week, every weekend, to just try to bring joy to people – a comedian becomes a beckon without trying to shed light on it. The audience feels it. I think social media has diminished true opinion, because the opinions we are being fed through social media aren’t real people, for the majority. It’s people trying to take away what we have which is so beautiful in this country, which is the ability to love beyond color, gender, and opinion.
“I think as a comedian I have to dare to say what I feel, and find the funny. Because even if we disagree, what’s great about comedy is when you laugh, for that moment, we all understood what I was saying. And we came to the fence to laugh together.”
No easy task, as once reliable down-the-middle mirth-makers are often being pushed aside for the satirically biting political comics who make their bones by covering the news of the day. More than a few big screen comics have recently said they might just be done with comedy for good – look no further than reliable 2000s marquee funny man Jim Carrey. But Marlon is pushing forward and looking to take the heat: he’s making every joke about himself.
“Everywhere I go, I’ve had nothing but great shows, standing ovations,” he boasts, “Because right now, I’m talking about me. I’m not talking about race, politics, abortion, I’m not talking about these hot button topics. I’m talking about me. And even when I do talk about those topics, I talk about those topics and how they relate to me. The joke’s on me. People feel good they can come to the show and I feel like, no one is going to bash them for their opinion or bash them for their lifestyle or bash them for their political standards or their color of what have you. Nah, man. The joke’s on me – let’s go have some fun.”
Perhaps a bit of escapist fun is just what the doctor ordered as the world continues to be plunged into war, and hate and high prices at the pump. But can audience expect a personal touch when Marlon headlines a night at the big Bayou Music Center on Friday, June 24? The youngest Wayans has a plan for that. “This is a good rule for me, but you try to make a small room big, and you try to make a big room small. I think there’s an art form to that, because the intimacy of playing and making small room feel [big] because a small room is already small, I like to choose to be bigger in a small room. Because you want to break through the walls. But with a big room, you like to be a little bit more intimate with moments of craziness. I want to fill the walls, but I want to bring everyone nice and in so they can feel something.
“I see like the first five rows. And then I assume based on those five rows what’s happening, that other people are laughing. Everyone now and again, it depends on how it’s lit, but I like to see the first five rows and dim it out. Then in the back you see like the bodies and stuff. But its like if I saw one person – I like to play out. But even like the first five rows, I’m not really playing to them, I’m playing to everybody. But like when it’s me doing specials, you’re not even playing to the crowd that’s there in the theatre, you’re playing to the home audience. Sometimes I’ll see somebody and like to have fun, having a good time, but I just want people to listen, laugh and feel good.”
The headlining comic is doing something unique at his level for his fellow brothers in comedy – he’s putting them in primetime. On Wayans’ new HBOMax stand-up series The Headliners, he’s making the not-so-famous funny faces that have been at his side on the road for years in the plum closer slot and bumping himself back to the opening act.
“Well, when I first started stand-up comedy, I started about 12 years ago and these was the guys I came up with. You know, I was already famous when I started doing stand-up. I was already an established star. So I would take these guys out to open for me and they would just crush it. And I was like, you know what? I’m gonna do a show where I open for y’all! I’m so grateful for you guys, and you guys aren’t ‘newcomers’ – these guys have been in the game for a long time. And I would love to see people to see experts at what they do. And I got to watch them kill it. It was a celebration of their hard work.”
Marlon admits the act is not entirely altruistic. Perhaps in an echo of his “recession” line of thinking, Marlon’s got his mind of the future… these men are his contingency plans. “That’s why when you get [to the top], you gotta support yours because I want them to feature, I want them to headline, I want them to sell out clubs and theaters. One day, when I’m not famous, I’d open for them. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. You feel me? It’s not about when you come up. It’s about the friends you gather on the way up, because when you fall those are the people who catch you.”
Performances are scheduled at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 24 at Bayou Music Center, 520 Texas. For more information, call 713-230-1600 or visit livenation.com. $49.50 – $99.50.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2022.
