One of the shows that legitimized Fox as ‘the fourth network’, In Living Color was the brainchild of Keenen Ivory Wayans and his brother Damon.  Forever referred to as the black Saturday Night Live, In Living Color was a primetime sketch/variety show with a much more pronounced African-American slant.  I pity those of you who didn’t live through it when it aired live.  On to the tale of the tape…

Relevance:  As the name implies, the sketches, the musical guests, the Fly Girls were all much more representative of the booming hip hop culture that was taking over young black America.  While SNL and many other comedy troupes usually have one token actor on staff when the need arises to have a black character, ILC could in many ways tackle deeper issues simply because they had so many black actors (look no further than the Star Trek: the Wrath of Farrahkhan sketch).

Legacy:  Pick one from the following list of people, movies, and shows that can be traced back to In Living Color  – one of the biggest comedic A-list actors of the 90s (Jim Carrey), an Academy Award winning black actor (Jamie Foxx), the first person to have a number one movie and album at the same time (Jennifer Lopez), The Wayans Brothers (TV Show), Scary Movie and the rebirth of the slapstick genre that followed the original movies’ success…the list goes on.

Craft:  Still some of the best comedy seen on television (in my humble opinion).  Let me take you back to the first episode:  there was the ‘Love Connection’ episode featuring a dead-on Chuck Woolery (Carrey) interviewing Robin Givens (Kim Coles) about her ‘date’ with Iron Mike Tyson (Keenen under great makeup).  The first episode also featured the first ‘Men on Film’, where Blaine Edwards (Damon) and Antoine Merriweather (David Alan Grier) reviewed films from ‘a male point of view’.  I still remember vividly going to middle school the next day (Monday) and seeing kids doing the ‘two snaps up’ during lunch.  This show was as close to an instant comedy classic as it gets.

Crossover:  In the same way that SNL crossed over, not necessarily; but in terms of sheer popularity there’s no question it was huge.  Fox asked for (and got) an In Living Color halftime show during one of its Super Bowl years.  By that point the sight gag of whatever little hat Damon was wearing in his ‘Men On…’ sketches was hilarious enough.  Keenen walked out during the show’s run not because of ratings failures but because of a contract dispute (isn’t that how it always goes).

Apollo:  The nature of any sketch comedy show is everyone will have a different favorite recurring character/sketch.  I’ve written 400 words and still haven’t mentioned Homey the Clown, Fire Marshal Bill, or Cephus and Reecie.  Personal favorites for me – Sketch: when Hammer was at his peak, they dressed up Tommy Davidson in the balloon pants and had him do ‘Can’t Touch This’.  That visual always busts me up.  Character: slightly under the radar, but Damon did this character named Oswald Bates, an ex-con who loves to use big words but never uses them in the right context (“You see, we must EVACUATE, excuse me, EJACULATE my fluid penetration!”) The militant in me always cracks up at that.

Next on the TV countdown is a show that had an even shorter run but also became an instant classic.  Until next time.