56 EMMYmix
in the
Keenen had to be convinced to host
In Living Color. He had no real interest
in getting onstage to welcome the
audience and introduce everyone.
But there was a pervading feeling that
not only would Keenen’s presence
give the show a sense of cohesion
— as opposed to being a bunch of
disconnected sketches — Fox felt it
would make it clear that the creative
force behind these racially charged
sketches was a black man.
For the pilot, the plan was to run through the
show on two consecutive nights, in front of two
different audiences. That way, they’d have two
takes of every sketch. If necessary, they could do
pickups — filming extra bits that didn’t work in the
original takes — after the audience left.
The first night, after Tommy Davidson
warmed up the crowd with some standup,
Keenen opened the show by introducing the Fly
Girls and the show’s DJ, a guy known as DJ Daddy
Mack, who was dressed in a tall black top
hat with a big Africa emblem on the front
of it. Keenen then wandered backstage
to introduce the cast and crew.
“I’ll tell you what I’m most proud
of,“ he says to the camera. “Unlike other
shows, I’ve got nothing but qualified
black people backstage making
decisions.” With that, he opens the
writers’ room door and a bunch of white
writers scurry out. He claims they’re the
cleaning staff. He introduces a black
cleaning lady as the head writer.
“Now I’m going to introduce you
to our cast,” he continues. “We went
nationwide to find the most talented
people in the country.” He then
introduces “Damon Wayans,” “Kim
Wayans,” “Tj Wayans,” “Toney Wayans,”
“Tommy Wayans,” and so on.
Next, Keenen boasts about how
integrated the show is. “People of all
races working together as one big happy
family,” he says as he opens a door
marked, “White Cast Members Only.”
Behind it are Carrey and Coffield. He’s
shining shoes. She’s ironing. They’re
both grinning broadly and singing,
“Camp Town Ladies.” Keenen smiles.
“Oh, those people. Always singing,
always happy.” It was a whip-smart,
playfully barbed reversal of the racial
dynamics that had ruled television sincethemedium’sinvention.
Back infrontof theaudience,Keenenis
confronted by the network’s “censors,” who
makeitclearthatmostofwhatKeenenhad
been planning for the pilot is unacceptable.
Keenenmakesashowofdefiance.“Irefuseto
besilenced,”hetellstheaudience.“Wehadthis
reallygreatsketchthatI wantedtodoforyou
anyway.It startedofflikethis:See,RonaldReagan
in 1975...” At this point, Keenen is rendered
inaudiblebythesoundofaloud,longbeep.He
continuesranting,butcan’tbeheard.Thebitisa
directhomageto—or,lesscharitably,arip-off
of—a routine from The Richard Pryor Show more
than a decade earlier.
The first set-piece is the “Love Connection”
sketch with Coles as a gold-digging Robin Givens,
Keenen as Tyson and Carrey as the show’s host,
Chuck Woolery. Later in the show, Davidson does
his Sammy Davis Jr. as Mandela. Dressed in a Star
of David necklace, pinkie rings and an African
dashiki, Davidson turns the song “Candy Man”into “Mandy Man”: “Who can take apartheid/
Turn it inside out/Show those Afrikaans what this
freedom gig’s about?/The Mandy Man can... The
Mandy Man can but they locked me in the can and
threw the key away.”
Coffield pops up twice as part of a recurring
meta-routine, playing an uptight white woman
writing a letter to the network to complain
about the show. “I realize in the past blacks have
suffered some... unpleasantness,” she dictates
aloud, “with that whole slavery thing and all, and
that some resentment may be justified. Maybe
it would help you if I shared with you a little
secret I know. Just take a deep breath and say
to yourselves, ‘Sticks and stones may break my
bones, but hundreds of years of oppression may
never harm me.’”
There are other short interludes. The two
“Great Moments in Black History” sketches — one
with Toney Riley as a lazy gas station attendant
who “invents” self-serve gas stations by telling
a customer to “Get it your damn self!”; the other
with Jeff Joseph as Slick Johnson, the
first black man on the moon, left behind
by the crew (and subsequently erased
from history) when the mission needs
to jettison weight for the return to Earth
— are in and out in about a minute. A
spoof of the show 227 , called “Too-Too
Ethnic,” is less than thirty seconds.
Keenen’s instincts seemed to be
spot-on. For “The Homeboy Shopping
Network,” a truck full of electronics and
other “stolen” goods was driven onto
the soundstage as a prop.
“Whenwe dida rehearsal,”says
Bright,“therewasoneofthosesmaller
satellitedishesinthetruckandKeenen
said,‘No,I wantoneofthosebig,giant
satellitedishes.’”Brightwasn’tsureit
wasworththetrouble.
“It’sgoingtobeawkwardandhard
togetthatoutofthetruck,”hetold
Keenen.
“No, man, I want the big one,”
Keeneninsisted.
Forthepilottaping,Brightgot a
huge dish with the words “Property
ofNASA”onit.Brightlaughs.“Keenen
wasright.I rememberhimluggingthat
satellitedishoutofthetruckthefirst
time.Thebigonewassomuchfunnier.”
As thesketch was being filmed,
Paul Millerwas inthecontrolbooth.
Keenen Ivory Wayans The technical staff was laughingFOX/PHOTOFEST