Whether its movies like Scary Movie, The Wayans Brothers, White Chicks, Dance Flick, or Don't be a Menace, the name “Wayans” goes hand in hand with the word laughter. This Thursday through Saturday (April 21 to April 23), Shawn and Marlon Wayans are coming to the Irvine Improv.
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OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): First off, my all-time favorite movie EVER
is, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the
Hood.
Shawn: Really? You sound more like a White Chicks type of fan.
Hey! I may be a white chick, but I have flavor. Excuse me, flava.
Anyways, did you guys have to stop and laugh a lot while filming Don't
be a Menace?
Shawn: [Laughs.] Wow, a white girl with a big ass who likes Don't be a
Menace, it don't get no better than that. You can bring that home to
Mama!
Marlon: Any white girls with big ass booties are friends of mine!
Shawn: We laughed a lot. But since we wrote it, we did most of our
laughing in the writer's room. When it came to shooting it, we were
pretty on point. But we definitely had some laughs on the set.
It's pure comedy brilliance in my mind.
Shawn: Thank you for saying that. It was our first movie and we put a lot into it.
So I searched your names on Twitter and found a question for both of
you. This one is for Marlon, “Were Marlon Wayans and Wiz Khalifa,
separated at birth?” Is Wiz indeed a Wayans? The people want to know.
Marlon: I don't think so. He's got way too many tattoos to be a
Wayans. That's like if someone found me as a kid, roughed me up, let my
hair grow, didn't wash my ass, and put tattoos all over me. We are
similar though, we're skinny. I don't think he is a bad looking dude
compared to the people you could have said.
Shawn: Marlon and Flavor Flav–they were separated at birth.
Your turn Shawn: “I wonder if Shawn was fucking J-Lo on In Living Color.” Care to comment?
Shawn: I wish I was! But no, I wasn't fucking J-Lo. I did have a nice view of her ass though, that's for sure!
What do you think of the state of hip-hop these days?
Shawn: I think music in general sucks.
Marlon: I'll tell you this. New Media is killing art. Nobody put a
camera on Picasso and watched him paint. It'd be crazy. When you're in
the comedy clubs everyone has their cameras on. It's like; you don't
even get to work out material anymore. It's tough because people always
expect you to be on and say the right thing. Like on Twitter, you say
some crazy stuff. Why? You're just throwing it out there and now
everyone's getting in trouble. We're losing our first amendment. You
know what I say?
What do you say?
Marlon: If you judge me for anything I tweet, Fuck you. You're shallow
and don't follow me [anymore]. That's about 140 characters right there. It's great
though. I use it to promote, to talk to fans; it's like an artery to
the world. You just have to watch what you say.
Shawn: It's like the mainstream media. It's not like you are just
talking to 30 people. A lot of people are picking up on what you're
saying.
Marlon: One of the gifts we have as comedians is to comment on things
that are going happening. Some people are afraid to even comment.
Shawn: Talk to the Aflac duck. He's working at El Pollo Loco now.
Have you guys ever thought of doing a spoof movie on the music industry?
Marlon: Uhhh no.
Shawn: I think music is in trouble. In the last 10 to 15 years
music has changed what it is. Now music that gets played doesn't even
have words, it's all stupid sounds. It's like frickin video game music.
I was just hoping since you guys have a lot of pull that maybe you could have a hand in stopping the auto-tune movement.
Shawn: I talk about music in my set, but that auto-tune thing?
That'll play itself out. We're all waiting for that moment so music can
get back to music.
How long do you think a comic should wait until making a joke about a “delicate issue” in the media?
Shawn: It takes time. If someone was filming the Wright brothers on
their first flight, people would never fly again. I mean when something
first happens, I wouldn't choose to do that. On a sensitive issue, you
just have to have good timing.
Marlon: I think nowadays, I think years. We live in such a
hypersensitive reality. People like Pryor and Carlin; they said what was
on their minds no matter what topic it was or how dark it was. That's
what made them great comedians. If you had a camera on those guys now,
they'd be in trouble all of the time!
Do you find a sense of freedom doing stand-up versus movies because there are fewer restrictions?
Marlon: I like the freedom of it. One of these days I'm probably going
to get in trouble. But that's OK with me. I'm not that good yet. Every
thought I say is not filtered, but I'm trying to grow as a communicator.
I may fail at some of that, but I gotta try.
Shawn: I love doing stand-up! I'm very comfortable and relaxed. I love
the immediate response you get when you say something funny. You don't
have to wait a year and a half and for it to go through editing to hear
if it's funny of not. Also, your basically the writer, director,
producer, and actor and you get to do whatever you want.
What can people look forward to at your Irvine Improv show?
Shawn: Honesty and comedy. Real talk.
Who you guys taking in the NBA Finals?
Marlon: Anybody but the Lakers. For life.
Follow Marlon on Twitter @MarlonlWayans and Shawn on
Facebook. Get your tickets now to see the Wayans brothers at the Irvine
Improv tomorrow through Saturday (April 21st- April 23rd). For tickets
call 949-854-5455 or log onto: www.improv.com The Improv is located at
71 Fortune Drive Irvine, CA 92618 (21+ over)
Ali Lerman knows much about comedy, basketball, and celebrating Wu-Tang Wednesday. She’s been writing for sixteen years and still calls her mom with grammatical questions.