Fox is planning an In Living Color reunion for the network’s 25th anniversary special on April 22. Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans will get together to talk about their memories of the classic 1990s sketch-comedy show that broke all PC rules. Fox will later be relaunching In Living Color with a new cast, but can it ever be as good as the original? Damon Wayons, Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier and many more created the most original TV of the time, where there were no sacred cows and everything was on the table to be skewered. Reruns air on Centric now, and I own the first three seasons on DVD (childhood memories!), but the reunion is more than enough reason to gather the funniest skits from the show.
1.The Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan Comedy Hour: Hands down, the winner. This is pure genius, from the respective impersonations by David Alan Grier and Damon Wayans to the script to the belly rub at the end.
2. Blaine and Antoine, Men on…: You can’t pick just one from the series of skits by Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier, with one-liners that often made the actors crack up (and outfits to match). Two snaps with a twist!
3. Oswald Bates and Barbara Bush: Another great Damon Wayans character was the “Booked on Phonics” Bates, the inmate with the curious sentences and coordinating facial expressions. Here, he shares his reading progress with the first lady.
I swear, just poking at the names of the clips brought back a flood of memories, each funnier then the rest.
Some good ones here. Honorable mention to “Po’ People’s Court”!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVWi0EsK_Z4
I always get this mixed up with MAD TV for some reason.
MADTv was a good show, but it was an “In Living Color” wannabe – with the same type of interracial cast. ILC had MUCH more talent, however; just the Wayans family by itself is incredibly talented. Damon Wayans’ SON is starring in prbably the funniest show of the present TV season: “Happy Endings.”
Now THAT’S comic DNA in action!
The Wayans got by somehow with so much sh*t… Oh, Lord, do I miss those days!
i loved this show.. all of it.. i’d always say carrie was going to be a big star.. he could do anything.. but all the people on this show was outstanding.. i never knew why it was taken off the air.. it was one of the best..
Men On Football, broadcast LIVE during the Super Bowl halftime! How in the world did they get that past the network censors?
And “Black or White?”, with the incredulous *Gasp!* from the audience at the end.
No mention of Super Bimbo?
Thank you! You’re one of the reasons we love pj media.
Where’s the homeless guy?
Anton the Bum – who always carried his own facilities – was certainly the most vomit inducing character on television in the early 90s.
hahahahaha
watching “handi-man” all i can say is
WOW
hahahahaha
just wow.
What a trip! I have been laughing so hard that I scared my cat. Homey is not safe for the incontinent (and no I’m not. I’m just sayin’)
Anyway, I am kind of outraged by the idea of Fox bringing the show back with a new cast. Why can’t they just let it be? Create something new.
I have spent much time turning my kids and younger generations on to “Living Color.” My honorable mention: Background Guy (Carrey). Thanks.
Two snaps up!
After all these years, I’m still a dévoté of Russell Simmons’s Def Strawberry Jam. (Slogan: “%&@#&%&@!!!”)
I’ve come across In Living Color on a cable network on my Time Warner Cable a couple of times, I don’t remember the name of the station though. I remember watching a few of these when it originally ran, and I watched one of the episodes aired during the Super Bowl. Has SNL ever been this funny?
That was a great show. If anyone tried to do those skits today the hypersensitive crowd would howl them down.
“Fire Marshall Bill” at no. 11? I’d say it’s in the top 5.
No mention of “Crown Heights Story”? C’mon I was moved to tears, and musically enraptured, by the star crossed love of Shlomo and Takiesha.
Even Shakespeare would have wept.
And you are all so right, ‘In Living Color’ had more PC punching cajones than almost anything else I’ve seen (although ‘Family Guy’ certainly does dabble, on occasion with delightful brutality.
I think it was Kim Wayans who did a hilarious spoof on Joan Armatrading. Running from window to window in her apartment with her guitar and singing about whatever she saw in the street below. “He’s beating her now — no, she’s getting away — wait, she’s pulling a knife — okay, he’s down — up — down — up — oh, they were trying to open a box, never mind.”
I remember that sketch, but I recall it being Tracy Chapman…am I wrong?
Yeah, it was Tracy Chapman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ9hNjiwX-U
I STILL love ‘Wanda Blind date #1′ scene.
The reaction to Wanda’s ‘looks’ at ~ :55 seconds into the skit is PRICELESS -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMlhdO-XurU
‘I got choo’ or ‘I’ll rock yo’ world’ are comedy staples for me.
Where are the dirty dozen skits? They are some of the best ones.
I had forgot Carrey came from her, J Lo the the Fly Girl as well.
Howard? BAM!!!
Jim Carry hypnotized by David Greer to talk like a chicken, then Greer dies. Leaving Carry stuck talking chicken. Cracks me up.
Damn, I miss that show. One of the best comedy shows to ever grace the small screen.
Jim Carrey- the worst Captain Kirk ever.
“Hi, I’m Loomis Simmons and I will KNOCK YOU UP!”
“The following scenes may be found disturbing by some viewers…DEAL WITH IT!”
True story:The last slot on ILC was either going to be Carrey or Thomas Hayden Church. Keenan went with the more comedic-ally experienced Jim, Thomas (who had been a fairly successful dramatic theater actor) went on to Wings.
If memory serves, the Men on Football and the Ugly Wanda skit were both from the Super Bowl halftime show. The other skit from that show I remember is the Homeboyz Shopping Network. The Jumbotron is among the items they’re selling and they have the Redskins QB Mark Rypien stuffed in a locker signing footballs.
Another HSN skit I enjoyed (that I don’t remember the name of) was where they were selling cars out of a baseball stadium parking lot, during the skit they break the window of one of the cars and give out its phone number as their contact number.
When I was a politician I went to many meetings of Black organizations. At one meeting (a ladies group) the greetings were so effusive that I almost burst out “this is just like IN LIVING COLOR.”As in all good satire it was over the top but well observed.
MO’ money! MO’ money! MO’ money!