There's enough of them for a basketball game, but just one-tenth of the Wayans clan will stand up and go it alone tonight and Friday the 13th.
Either they really like kids or didn't have cable, but Elvira and Howell Wayans had 10 children and No. 9 himself, Shawn Wayans, will do his stand-up thing at Comedy Esquire, formerly Hornblower's, at Ventura Harbor Village.
It's back to the beginning for this Wayans, but first a few words about the middle and the end.
The Wayans parents are doubtlessly proud of their brood, starting with Keenen Ivory. In 1988 he was to blame for a funny spoof of blaxploitation flicks, "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka," in which young Shawn made his debut.
But the kids are best known for that hilarious 1990s Fox show "In Living Color." Keenen and Damon were the brains behind the Emmy-winning show, making people laugh before, after or between Homer Simpson and Al Bundy on Sunday nights.
The comedian will perform his stand-up act at 8 tonight and 8 and 10 p.
m. Friday at Comedy Esquire, 1559 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura Harbor Village, Ventura. Bruce Fine will open the shows.
Tickets, $30, must be purchased in advance at the box office or via phone. For reservations or more information, call 644-1500.
There was no shortage of Wayans folks on "In Living Color": Kim and Marlon were both featured and Shawn got to create a number of hilarious characters on the show, including disc jockey SW-1.
So for the younger members of the Wayans clan, Reagan's trickle-down theory clearly worked at least this once. Yeah and nepotism rocks.
After "In Living Color,'' there was a TV show in 1995, "The Wayans Bros.
," starring Shawn and Marlon. Next, Shawn wrote, produced and starred in the movie with one of the longest titles in Leonard Maltin's movie book: "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood."
You can also blame the Wayans brothers, especially Shawn, for the smash hit "Scary Movie," which led to numerous sequels, all more dopey than scary, but with lots of dead teens and horror movie trivia.
Shawn was one of the white bimbos in "White Chicks." And in last year's "Little Man," he played Darryl Edwards, who mistakes short, baby-faced thief Calvin Sims (a composite of Marlon's head and child actor Linden Porco's body) for a toddler. The brothers shared a Razzie Award for Worst Actor; Shawn also won a Razzie for Worst Screen Couple (with either Marlon or Kerry Washington, who played his wife).
With a remake of "The Munsters" and new "Thugaboo" cartoons on Nickelodeon in the works, Shawn has clearly emerged from his brothers' shadows.
But it all comes back to stand-up, according to the comedian himself. As far as night work goes, stand-up is about as difficult as it gets because the majority of the clientele drank their suppers.
It's not funny when the comedian isn't funny. In any case, the Capricorn comedian (but not historian) discussed the latest during a recent Q-and-A session.
Q: So Shawn, "In Living Color" what a great Fox comedy in a long line of hilarious Fox Sunday night comedies.
Where do you think it fits in?
A: You tell me. For me, it was the beginning of my career, so that's how it fits into my life.
As for the big scheme of things, that's left to the television audience to decide.
Q: Lotsa funny Fox shows "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," "Married With Children," "The Simpsons," "Get a Life," "Family Guy," "The War at Home," "Malcolm in the Middle."
A: Yeah, it lasted quite a while; it helped launch the Fox Network.
I'm proud of it. I thought it was a great show.
Q: Ten kids?
Did you ever get to go to the bathroom? How did all that work logistically?
A: There were a lot of hand-me-downs.
It's crazy when you get hand-me-downs from your sisters, you know? So we took the Sergio Valente jeans, put holes in 'em and still wore 'em outside. We got rid of the "Valente" and kept the "Sergio" like it was a new French designer.
But you know, it was pretty cool we was broke, but we had a lot of laughs.
Q: Even still.
A: Even still.
Now we have even more fun.
Q: Nepotism rocks. That's pretty obvious.
Just ask any rich guy's kid. How'd that work in your case?
A: Nepotism?
It was kind of a double-edged sword for me. On the one hand, it was great to be in a family that was doing it. But it was a lot of hard work on my behalf because I have to uphold that family reputation and I was coming into it when my brothers were already doing it for 15 or 17 years.
I was starting fresh while they were piping hot, so there was a lot of pressure and a lot of stuff that I had to endure.
Q: So there wasn't much chance that you were going to be a Realtor, accountant, airline pilot or something like that?
A: Naw hell, no.
I wasn't gonna be the funniest guy at McDonald's, that's for sure.
Q: That's like being the best surfer in Kansas. Who cares?
A: Exactly.
Q: Acting, writing, stand-up how do you find the time to do all this stuff?
A: Capricorn.
We get it done. It's just about setting goals and knocking them down one by one and, you know, staying focused. I enjoy doing all these different things that's why I do 'em.
Q: How did the success of "Scary Movie" affect you? I hear there's going to be a "Scary Movie 5." When "Scary Movie X" meets "Rocky XXI," now that would be really scary.
A: "Scary Movie 5"? That's what I heard, but we're not a part of that no more. We only did the first two the rest ain't us.
"Scary Movie" knocked down a lot of walls and opened a lot of doors for us. That was the movie that traveled overseas for us and made us a worldwide global brand. So that's how it changed our careers it was a great, great moment for us.
Q: Who inspired you as an actor?
A: My brothers, Keenen and Damon. I always looked up to them.
Outside of them, Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor.
Q: What else is cooking in your movie biz world?
A: A few things.
We're taking a TV show, "The Munsters," and making it into a feature film through Universal Pictures. So we're writing and producing that. We're also writing the next movie we're gonna star in, and I'm on my third special for our cartoon, "Thugaboo," which airs on Nickelodeon it's kind of a combination of Charlie Brown and Fat Albert with a hip-hop twist.
Q: How does the writing process work for you?
A: Well, it all starts with a concept, something you think is fresh or interesting. Once you have the concept, it's about the execution of that concept and figuring out what's been done with that concept before you, then making it fresh and better.
Q: What's the story on your stand-up career?
A: That's how I got into the business. I started out doing comedy about 17 years ago.
I came to California for a summer and promised myself before I left there that I would get onstage and do stand-up because I had been dreaming about it for the last 10 or 12 years. I did it.
Then I went back to New York to finish high school and was still doing stand-up comedy.
After high school I moved back to L.A., so I've been doing it off and on in between writing films and creating TV shows.
But stand-up is what I always go back to. It's my roots, and it helps me to write; it makes me a funnier screenwriter because I'm more in touch with the audience.
Q: Sometimes you can be too in touch.
How do you handle hecklers? Some can be brutal.
A: They are brutal if you ain't funny.
The hecklers handle themselves. You let them speak, let them set themselves up 'cause the audience is gonna turn on them, and once you get the audience annoyed, then you can lay into them that's my style.
I'll let you get a few off, then I'm gonna let the audience get (mad), then I'm gonna make you leave.
I'll make you wish you never came.
Q: In the stand-up world, who makes you laugh?
A: I'm still waiting on Eddie Murphy to make a comeback he was one of my favorites.
And I like Jerry Seinfeld. And Richard Pryor was, of course, the best. I like Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle.
Q: In addition to the usual drunken fools, is there a certain demographic that risks embarrassment by going to comedy clubs?
A: It depends. I get all the people that know my stuff: my "White Chicks" fans (younger than me and middle-age white women); "Don't Be a Menace" fans (young black and Hispanic males); Wayans fans (all nationalities); and "Living Color" fans (an older demographic.
) I get everybody it's pretty cool to see.
Q: How did getting a Razzie Award change things for you, or does that stuff even matter?
A: It doesn't affect me because Razzie Awards don't make any sense to me.
I feel like they're not playing on a fair playing field. If they gave everybody who deserved a Razzie Award a Razzie Award, there'd be credibility to it, but the fact that we got seven (nominations) and "Snakes on a Plane" got none
Q: What's up with that?
A: What is up with that?
I can name two Razzie Awards right off the bat. They should get one for the title and another for Sam Jackson's hat. "Date Movie" didn't even get a Razzie Award, so I don't pay them no mind we just keep doing our thing.
Q: What was your strangest gig?
A: Strangest? When we first started, there was this place called Natural Fudge it was a cake shop that was going out of business and the lady decided to let people do stand-up comedy to help supplement her revenue stream.
But here's the kicker: In order to get onstage, you had to buy a piece of her old cake. So now, not only are you bombing because there's no audience, but you got pie cream around your mouth.
Q: So putting your dentist into a higher income bracket, huh?
How was her cake?
A: Her cake sucked, too.
Q: If not this, what?
A: I'd be the funniest guy at McDonald's.
Q: What's a little-known fact about Shawn Wayans?
A: Man, I don't know.
(Loud voice in the background.) Oh, here's a little-known fact: I listen to Barbra Streisand.
Q: Hey man, that little voice in your head is getting louder.
Either that, or your head sprung a leak.
A: That's my best friend, Bruce Fine, who actually is my opening act, and he knows all the little quirks about me that I don't care to acknowledge.
Q: All right.
January 19th birthday. How important is it to be a Capricorn, in that we never lie and we're always right?
A: I don't wanna be cocky, but something like that something like that.
Straight up people, straight up people.
Q: And you know you're born on Robert E. Lee's birthday?
A: Who?
Q: Robert E. Lee was born on Jan.
19.
A: Who's that?
Q: The most famous Confederate general during the Civil War.
A: Oh, OK. You can tell I was asleep during social studies.
Q: I can.
OK, one more easy one: What would you say to the funniest guy at McDonald's?
A: Don't quit your day job until you're making people laugh at night.
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