Echoes of Us - Interview with Marlon Wayans ahead of upcoming tour

Hey, hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Echoes of Us. I'm Aretha Odayo. And I'm Sarah Bien-Aimé. You know, Echoes of Us is all about those in the community who inspire us in a culture that shapes us. And today's guest is the funny guy. He's a film director, a writer, producer, and also an actor. Many people might know him from, what, White Chicks? He played a football coach, a dad, and a little man. Yeah, a stand-up comedy tour that's taking him all across the country. Marlon Wayans will be at MGM Springfield's Aria Ballroom Saturday, November 14th at 8 p.m. for his wild child. Wild Child Tour, and he's sharing all the hot gossip with us. Take a look. Thank you so much, Marlon Wayans, for coming on the Echoes of Us podcast. Congratulations on the tour, Wild Child Tour. Tell us about the title. It was my mother's wildest child, so everything I do, I try to dedicate a little bit to that lady, so I always feel like she's with me, and yeah, so I call it Wild Child. And now we heard it's all new material. How important is that as a comedian? How do the jokes come to you? Tell us a little bit about your process. Um... I think the material is always new for me. If I do the same things, I get bored. So I start lying to myself. I don't need to rehearse something a bunch of times to get it. So I like to use the stage. more or less to write, more than perform. I could perform it, but I like just sitting there writing in front of the audience and they have no idea that I'm writing. So for me, that's the process in my head. You know, I think a lot of guys out there performing, I'm like, that's the easy part for me. I just, I like doing the writing. So this way, when I'm creating at home or I'm writing a project, The writer and the audience is in my head as I'm typing. So how are you preparing for this upcoming tour? About 40 dates, all of that? More than that. All I work out, I golf, take my vitamins. Um, um... I don't know, stay healthy and just do my work. right. Sometimes I do two, four, six, two shows a night. Sometimes I do three. So I just have fun at the show. That's the most important thing that you could do is have fun, you know, in your dash as you're doing. I don't think about what I'm doing, what I'm creating. I just I do it because I love it. It pushes me to the dash. And what are you doing in between all that? You bring you bring games on tour. What kind of things are you doing in between? Are you focused on the on the writing and the content? Oh, I golf. I think I do things to turn my frequency down. I perform up here. The rest of my life, I spend, I don't know. I got my son on the road with me. He's 24, and he's annoying as hell, but no, he's not. He's adorable. I love my son. So I take my son with me. I got one of my friends with me who kind of road managers, and he's like a Swiss Army knife. And so, you know, wherever I go, I got family, I got fun, I have a good time. Um, so. Cigars, Vox. I smoke my cigars and, you know, because I have a cigar company, Liga Tridente. And, you know, I just, I do the things I love and I try to bring the people I love with me. This way you're not bored. I golf on like Saturday and Sunday and then I do two shows. And then, you know, I don't mind traveling. I'm used to it by now. And, you know, you get to see different parts of the world, different parts of the country, and get to learn different parts of the audience. You realize that you're loved everywhere. And, you know, I don't know. God's with you everywhere you go. You're never alone. I'm sure viewers want to know, when you come to Massachusetts, which I don't know if that's very often, what's the vibes when you come here? Is there any spot that you go to or any spot that you like? Y'all don't judge me. Because this ain't Cape Verdean. Oh, I like, hold on, I'm taking my vitamins. Let me take some, too. my I'll take your vitamins. I like this place, Q's. God. It's a hot pot place. I love hot pot. And it's really good, some Wagyu, and they always get me drunk as hell there. And I just like going there, taking good care of me, most of the time, sometimes. Depends on who's managing the joint. They'll be like, I don't know you. I'm like, and then other times, like, oh, come on, it's a scary movie. White Chicks, come on. Shot, shot. By the time I leave there, I'm stumbling. But, you know, it's good, good food. I got to make sure it's good because I'm cooking it. Shout out to that place. Well, this tour is very different from your last tour, Good Grief. You were obviously, you know, working through the pain of losing your parents. Can you talk a little bit about that difference? And obviously, how was the process in doing the tour when you're going through something like that? Healing. It's hard, you know, because you cry a lot on stage. But, you know, you realize that you're healing. And every time the audience laughs, you know, you feel like, okay, I feel a little bit better. But it doesn't discount the fact that, you know, I'll never, not for a while, see my mom's or my dad's face again. But, you know, they're with me in spirit. And I feel like, you know, that if you understand spirit, you understand God. And if you understand God, you understand healing. You understand the other side. And, you know, I'm just lucky to have gotten through it. and continue to be a pillar to get my family through it because you know you never stop healing and you know it affects every family member death affects especially death of parents affects every family member in their own way and you realize who you are and how you were raised and how you show up and so for me it was a time in my life where i kind of grew up You know, and my sense of humor got really dark. Everybody's like, what happened to you? You used to be so funny and crazy and now you're dark. I'm like, yeah, you wait till your parents die and you understand dark humor. You have, you know, your humor is a reflection of what you feel in your soul and where you are. So my soul was running from darkness. Right. So my humor represented that I'm not going to lie about or act a certain way when I don't feel that inside. I have to represent that. And and it's funny because, you know, my my audience matured, I think, not in terms of the age. But in terms of the depth, because it's people that have been through a lot that realize what I'm doing is bigger than comedy or made me realize that what I'm doing is bigger than comedy because it's actually healing. And when you can make people laugh and cry at the same time, you're doing something special. We have to wrap this segment up. We will get back and just talk more to you about your family and everything else that you're accomplishing, too. Scary Movie grossed nearly $232 million. Him is streaming on Peacock, obviously Little Man, White Chicks, you know, the classics, The Wayans Brothers, so many projects to name. What's been a career highlight and a career hardship for you? I think a career is a hardship. The fact that I'm still relevant 35 years after close to 40 years I've been doing it. To me, I have a peak. A career is a gift, not a curse. A career is a hardship. It's not something that you do one time. It's something that you have to continue to repeat results. And, you know, just when you think you got it. You got to go to the next level. And so I'm constantly working and I stay grinding. And hopefully I'm an example to other people who want a long-term career. You know what I'm saying? They wanted me to be a flash in the night. Me and my, you know, they wanted us to be gone a long time ago. We won't go away. You know what I mean? We're just some hard-working dudes that do it for the culture. We do it for the people. We do it to make people laugh and feel good. And, you know, so to me, a career that lasts this long is a hardship and it's not easy. You just got to. That's where the work comes in and the humility comes in. It's just, you're never there. You just keep grinding and grinding and grinding and see what happens, but you're never there. So I'm still not there. Wherever there is, I'm not there yet. I think once I do arrive to where there is, I won't acknowledge that I'm there because I want to go to some other level so I can keep going until I can't go no more. So, you know, I'm just grateful. There's no hardship. There's been a lot of things that stand out in terms of my career that I'm proud about. Um, I, um, White Chicks is probably the movie I really thought was the greatest accomplishment because I don't understand if people know how much work went into White Chicks and how we felt like we was going to die, the whole movie, Sean and I, being in seven hours of makeup. I've been working 14 hours after that, sleeping two hours a night, every night, and having learned dance numbers. And, you know, nobody knows the work that you put into it. And then, you know, so, I mean, every movie, you know, Don't Be a Menace, we did that for like, I don't know, no money. That was the first movie that we wrote and produced, me and my brother Sean, and got done with Kenan, and the director messed it up, and we had to, write a whole new movie and shoot a whole new movie in order of and that became the don't be Menace that you guys see we shot that movie in a week and you know scary movie was a huge feat because you know we made that movie for 19 million dollars and it grossed 300 million dollars and you know back then that's like a billion dollars bro I mean what we did was you know It's historic, but it doesn't matter, right? Because those things don't stick. They hit the wall, and then they slide down. And you just got to keep on going, stay motivated. And, you know, you never know where you are. I never know where I would arrive. There's been a lot of great things in my career, but there's been no bad. Everything bad has turned out good, and everything is good or bad is God. And he takes you up, he takes you down, but you get through it. And part of your career is, like, working with family. So how do you mix business and family and continue to maintain that, like, healthy relationship? Lots of drinks. Thanks. What kind? What kind? Whatever's strong. Whiskey. No, I love my family. It's hard sometimes, you know, because we're all so opinionated. And, you know, for me, you know, I think the last 20 years I've been working on Marlon. So I wasn't working with my brothers for a while and by the time I came back to work with my brothers, you know, it wasn't like, hey, it's the baby that's just gonna do what the older siblings say. It's like, oh, I'm the guy that actually has to drive the ship. And so I'm a lot more opinionated and a lot more involved. Sometimes more than I even want to be, but I think it's the adjustment for them is understanding that, you know, I've been on my own journey. I'm on stage every weekend. I'm on my sixth and seventh special. Like, I'm not the kid that I was when I was like, even when I was 34, you know, I'm so I'm so much more evolved as a 54-year-old artist and man that... I don't know. I've come into my own. So I have, I know how to execute. It's not like, hey, we filmed this great stuff and then Keenan goes into editing and makes magic happen. You know, when he was directing, that's different. But now, you know, I got to be on set all day. I got to, you know, work with the actors. I have to do all that. So, you know, you go from being a To understand what it is to be a visionary and understand what it is to be the guy that delivers it. So I'm grateful for my family because they grew me up. I'm grateful for you. Impressive. You built this full empire. Well, we'll be right back. We have lots more to talk about with Marlon Wayans. You're watching Echoes of Us. And we're going to do a quick rapid fire. I first want to know, Celtics or Patriots? Are you a Massachusetts sports fan? Boston? That's his answer. Or what team are you? Well, it's good to know this. I am agnostic, except for my Yankees. We don't get along with Boston. Basketball, I like, you know, Paul Pierce is a friend. I like Paul. I like the Celtics. I don't mind the Celtics. I didn't like them as much when Larry Bird was playing against Michael Jordan because I was a Michael Jordan fan. Patriots, I'm never going to love. And I was happy Tom Brady left so you guys could. Fail again. And that's the hater in me. I'm sorry. I didn't even think about it last year, but I'm sorry. That just jumped out of my mouth. Yeah. But my point is, I'm a Steelers fan. Um, but. But I don't, you know, I like Boston. I like Bostonians. I like the attitude that y'all have. Y'all remind me a lot of New York, of New York. That's why we hate each other, because we're all, I can't say the word. But we're all body parts that we don't see. And why we hate each other is because we're actually the same rude, loud, obnoxious sports fan. That's all of the East Coast. I definitely agree. Yes, us, Philly. It stops at Atlanta. They on some of us, too. ATL, yo. Another one. Would you rather do a reboot slash sequel of White Chicks or Him? Him was very interesting to watch, by the way. The ending really got me. Anyways, which one? Uh, well, I love them both. You're asking me to choose two babies, but I'm going to go with White Chicks because White Chicks is something that we wrote, produced, starred in. Him, I just give myself to my director, and I think Justin Tipping deserves a lot more credit than he got for that movie. See, look, all right, I got another one. Would you rather act in a four-hour movie or do a four-hour comedy show with a senior center? With a what? With a senior center, like senior citizens. I think it'd be interesting to do a four-hour comedy show with senior citizens. I think they appreciate the comedy a lot more because, you know, at their age, they've seen it all. They're not that sensitive. Old people don't give a F. They don't care. Most of them are racist because they were allowed to say it. There was no cancel culture. They felt how they felt. So their sense of humor is they love the guys like Don Rickles. They like the Richard Pryors, the guys that don't exist anymore. They're fans of that real comedy. And that's the kind of comedy I bring. Love that. And last one for you. Would you rather lose a game of golf to Kevin Hart or go an entire year without making a joke? You could have said, or give all your money away to charity. Or swim with sharks. All right. Anything but lose a game of golf. In the rain, in the rain. Because this little guy, he called me up talking so much. In the rain. I'll whoop his a** in the rain. He talked, no, actually the rain is very hard to play in, but I'll play. He talks so much. Marlon, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? I'll bust your a**. I said, can't. You said I'm I'm I'm honest every day. You don't understand, bro. You're too you're too small. Your body don't your body don't whip like my body whips like and he can't think because he works hard. That's Kevin's, one of Kevin's many talents, you know, he's a very hard worker. But when it comes to that work, and I, you know, nobody can outwork me. I'll outwork you. Nobody works like I work. I just make it look easy. I make it look like I'm not working. But, bro, I don't just perform. I write. I produce. I star. I do drama. I do comedy every weekend, just like you. I do specials. I don't have to play at an arena. I'm playing little comedy clubs, doing three, four shows a night. I'm not doing one big show. And he knows. And I take meetings. And I'm building my business. And I'm working with my brother. Like, I got all this stuff I'm doing. He's a hard worker, but I let him know I'm a harder worker. You will not beat me in golf. You got a one-up. And I love you. And you love him. We just want to thank you so much for coming on Echoes of Us. Go check out his Wild Child tour. There's two Massachusetts dates. Check it out. We'll link it on our website. And thank you again for helping on the podcast. You're welcome. All right, guys, that was the episode. Hope you enjoyed our conversation with Marlon Wayans. We had a lot of fun. Yeah, and you know you can watch it, what, every day? Every day, seven days a week. And we'll stay tuned for next week. We don't like to share all that. But you guys know where to find us. Um, you've just been watching Echoes of Us. Oh, we have to do a wide shot. Goodbye. Wide shot. Bye, bud.