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In Living Color is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from April 15, 1990, to May 19, 1994. Brothers Keenen and Damon Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television and was taped at stage 7 at the Fox Television Center in Hollywood, California. The title of the series was inspired by the NBC announcement of broadcasts being presented “in living color” during the 1960s, prior to mainstream color television. It also refers to the fact that most of the show’s cast were black, unlike other sketch comedy shows such as Saturday Night Live whose casts were mostly white.
Other members of the Wayans family—Kim, Shawn, and Marlon—had regular roles, while brother Dwayne frequently appeared as an extra. The show also starred the rising stand-up comic Jim Carrey alongside previously unknown actor/comedians Jamie Foxx, Tommy Davidson, David Alan Grier, and T’Keyah Crystal Keymáh. Additionally, Dancing with the Stars judge and choreographer Carrie Ann Inaba, and actress and pop music star and actress Jennifer Lopez, were members of the show’s dance troupe The Fly Girls with actress Rosie Perez serving as choreographer. The show launched the careers of Carrey, Foxx, Davidson, Grier, Keymáh, Inaba, and Lopez and is credited with bringing the Wayans family to a higher level of fame as well. It was immensely popular in its first two seasons, capturing more than a 10-point Nielsen rating; in the third and fourth seasons, ratings faltered as the Wayans brothers fell out with Fox network leadership over creative control and rights. The series won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series in 1990. The series gained international prominence for its bold move and its all-time high ratings gained by airing a live, special episode as a counterprogram for the halftime show of U.S. leader CBS‘s live telecast of Super Bowl XXVI.
Following Keenen Ivory Wayans’ success with Hollywood Shuffle and I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, Fox Broadcasting Company approached Wayans to offer him his own show. Wayans wanted to produce a variety show similar to Saturday Night Live, but with a cast of people of color that took chances with its content. Fox gave Wayans a lot of freedom with the show, although Fox executives were a bit concerned about the show’s content prior to its television debut.
In announcing its debut, Fox described In Living Color as a “contemporary comedy variety show”. In its preview, the Christian Science Monitor warned that its “raw tone may offend some, but it does allow a talented troupe to experiment with black themes in a Saturday Night Live-ish format.” Keenen Ivory Wayans said, “I wanted to do a show that reflects different points of view. We’ve added an Asian and a Hispanic minority to the show. We’re trying in some way to represent all the voices. … Minority talent is not in the system and you have to go outside. We found Crystal doing her act in the lobby of a theater in Chicago. We went beyond the Comedy Stores and Improvs, which are not showcase places for minorities.”
The first episode aired on Sunday, April 15, 1990, following an episode of Married… with Children. The first episode was watched by 22.7 million people, making it the 29th top show for the week.
Prominent skits:
- “The Homeboy Shopping Network”, featuring Damon and Keenan as streetwise criminals operating an unlicensed, Home Shopping Network-style shopping network out of the back of their van to sell stolen goods.
- “Fire Marshal Bill”, featuring Carrey as an incompetent, dangerously inept fire marshal.
- “Men On Film”, featuring Damon and Grier as effeminate black film critics with exaggerated physical motions, such as “Two snaps up”.
- “Homey D. Clown”, featuring Damon as a misanthropic, verbally abusive clown doing demeaning entertainment gigs for low pay as part of his prison release program
- “East Hollywood Squares”, featuring many of the cast in a ghetto parody of the game show Hollywood Squares
- “Benita Buttrell”, featuring Kim Wayans as an untrustworthy neighborhood gossip