Marlon Wayans revealed that his family wasn’t always supportive of his dreams of being a stand-up comedian.
The 50-year appeared on “The Breakfast Club” on March 7, where he discussed his journey doing comedy.
During a discussion about making a good stand-up special, the “White Chicks” actor noted that he had always tried to impress his older brothers, legendary actors, and comedians Keenen Ivory Wayans and Damon Wayans.
“I always tried to impress my brothers,” said Wayans. “My brothers, Keenen and Damon are the hardest two n—as to impress, ’cause they’ve been doing this 50 years of comedy with each of them.”
Wayans went on to do a perfect impression of Damon Wayans.
“These brothers have seen everything! Nothing’s funny. This is how they laugh, ‘That’s funny,'” Wayans joked with a stone-cold impression on his face. “If it’s funny, why the f— ain’t you laughing? They don’t laugh,” he joked.
The “Scary Movie” star went on to say that his brothers thought his latest special on HBO, “God Loves Me,” was “brilliant” and complimented him for how well the special was constructed.
Wayans added that Damon told him it was the first time he’d seen him do something that he’d never seen before and that it made him look at the art form in a different way. “He said it was like a one-man play, but a stand-up special at the same time.”
Wayans’ HBO special covers the infamous Oscar slap and his decision to quit stand-up comedy when he was just 19 after being heckled by Chris Rock.
“Chris Rock heckled me when I was 19 years old. I quit stand-up comedy, I only did it 10 times up until then, I love Chris. Chris is like a big brother. I quit stand-up comedy for 20 years. I was hurt,” he said, adding that Rock made fun of him for not being funny and joking that he needed to join a different family.
After being asked if he did comedy for the audience or for his brothers, Wayans explained that he does it for himself. He said he planned to drop a new special every two years to see his progression, but his brothers thought the idea was dumb.
“I remember I was mad,” he shared, stating that his brothers love him and try to give him advice.
“I’m not tryin’ to be y’all. I’m just tryin’ to be me,” he added, noting that Damon joked, “Do you. Show us something different. We old n—as. You that digital n—a. We didn’t even know what a Twitter is.”
“God Loves Me” is currently streaming on HBO Max.
