Homey Don’t Play That! The Story of In Living Color and The Revolution of Black Comedy: A (Spoiler Free)Book Review.
“How ya livin!? What!? How ya livin!? What!? How ya livin!? In Living Color!”
That opening line popped off that iconic theme song of In Living Color every Sunday night on Fox. The sketch show that broke all the rules and made up new ones for primetime television comedy. In Living Color premiered in 1990 and wrapped up in 1994, but its legacy and laughs still live on to this very day. Its DNA can be seen in countless comedies from Martin and MadTv ; to Chappelle’s Show and Key & Peele; to Nickelodeon’s All That and Black Lady’s Sketch Show. In Living Color’s lasting legacy in black comedy as well as comedy in general inspired author David Peisner to do a deep dive into the making of the iconic sketch comedy and its lasting impact in his book “HOMEY DON’T PLAY THAT! The story of In Living Color and the black comedy revolution.”
Peisner’s book is a must read for both In Living Color fanatics and black comedy enthusiasts alike. Includes great commentary by cast members like Keenan Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Kim Wayans, Shawn Wayans, David Alan Grier, Jamie Foxx, T’Keyah “Crystal” Keymah, Jim Carrey, Kelly Coffield, Tommy Davidson, Anne-Marie Johnson, Kim Coles, Marc Wilmore, and Alexandra Wentworth; Fly Girls members\choreographers like Rosie Perez, Jennifer Lopez, AJ Johnson; and many others involved in the production of In Living Color like Tamara Rawitt, Les Firestein, Larry Wilmore, John Bowman, Eric Gold, Jamie Kellner, Joe Davola etc.
If you were there at the time you knew that the show had many battles fought and won, (with a few losses too) but in this book whether you were there at the time or not you definitely get the full scope of the behind the scenes mishaps and hardcore battles that went on between the Wayans family and Fox as well as the writers room shenanigans that got pretty dark at times. If you get nothing else from this book you’ll definitely get a glimpse at Hollywood life in all its glory and detriment.
Important tidbits:
- The entire background of the Wayans family’s rise to their comedy empire included Keenan’s first brush with Richard Pryor on television and the hilarious and just plain weird family rituals that inspired a lot of that classic Wayans humor.
- A confrontational yet humorous interaction between Keenan and Jim Carrey that helped inspire one of Carrey’s most iconic roles: Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.
- How Jennifer Lopez came this close to not being a fly girl and the drama that led to her departure.
- If you think the Roseanne writers room was something, wait ’til you get a load of In Living Color’s writers room.
- Who inspired Homey The Clown may shock you… or not, who knows, but it’s still pretty cool.
- The superbowl would never be the same again after a historic moment in television history.
- A classic and hilarious sketch between Jamie Foxx and Tommy Davidson almost led to fists being punched in the face.
- In Living Color had pretty big time fans that included a lot of hip hop stars and various comics, but one comic fan in particular tried out for the show multiple times and never got it, but would go on to make a pretty big splash in the comedy world themselves.
Before I leave you I just have to sign off with two of the most iconic In Living Color intros that also happen to be among the greatest tv theme songs\intros ever! ’90s perfection done with excellence by the late great Heavy D:
If In Living Color taught us anything is that you can do what you wanna do and can be whatever you wanna be. So reach for the stars with whatever you do because like the cast and crew of In Living Color, you may just end up making history. ’Til next time, folks!
You can purchase David Peisner’s Homey Don’t Play That! The Story of In Living Color and The Black Comedy Revolution at Amazon, including on Kindle for $12.99.