Actor and comedian Marlon Wayans joins today’s show to discuss his recent shift to more dramatic roles in television and film, including Respect and Bel-Air. Marlon opens up about past trauma and how he has channeled that trauma into his comedy. Marlon also talks about mental health, the value he gets from therapy, and why acceptance is the ultimate expression of love.
Key Takeaways:
01:15 – Actor and comedian Marlon Wayans talks about his recent dramatic roles and shares his thoughts on the Chris Rock-Will Smith moment at the Oscars
06:31 – How trauma shapes comedy
08:57 – Marlon shares the experience of his daughter coming out to him and his family
13:01 – Marlon discusses some of his upcoming projects and discusses why therapy has been so important in his life
15:53 – Dr. Flowers thanks Marlon for joining the show and for the great work he continues to do
Tweetable Quotes
“I think a lot of great comedians make for great actors. The skill set you have to have as a comedian comes from such a dark place, right? You have this skill set to take something so dark and find something funny about it. It doesn’t mean that you don’t deal with that pain, you just go, ‘Ok, what’s funny about it?’” (02:10) (Marlon)
“You know, in our neighborhood we grew up poor in the projects with all these characters around us. People that were in and out of jail, crackheads, dudes on the corners, drug dealers. And we’ve seen all of that and we were the class clowns. That was our gift in the community was to make people laugh.” (06:49) (Marlon)
“Acceptance is the greatest love you can have.” (09:57) (Marlon)
“I go to therapy. I have a therapist. I try to go weekly or monthly, but I’m always so busy. But when I feel it, I know I gotta unpack. And we sit down and we talk. Sometimes you just need to talk it out and that’s important even for myself because insanity is everywhere.” (14:42) (Marlon)
Resources Mentioned:
JFlowers Health Institute – https://jflowershealth.com/
JFlowers Health Institute Contact – (713) 783-6655
Subscribe on your favorite player: https://understanding-the-human-condition.captivate.fm/listen
Marlon’s IMDB Page – https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005541/
Marlon’s Website – https://www.marlonwayansofficial.com/
**The views and opinions expressed by our guests are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of J. Flowers Health Institute. Any content provided by our co-host(s) or guests is of their opinion and is not intended to reflect the philosophy and policies of J. Flowers Health Institute itself nor is it intended to malign any recovery method, religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable.
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Marlon Wayans – Trauma In Comedy & The Ultimate Expression Of Love
Shifting To Dramatic Roles
We have a special guest, Marlon Wayans. Marlon, thank you so much.
You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.
I know you’re super busy and I appreciate you being here and your time. We know that you come from a huge family of comedians, of course, the Wayans. You come from an amazing heritage, and we’re used to seeing you as Mr. Funny. Viewers have been surprised to see you in a more serious role. You worked with Jennifer Hudson in a serious role in Respect. You played the dramatic role of an abusive husband, and we saw you make that special appearance on Bel-Air. How do you feel about going from comedian to serious role?
I think a lot of great comedians make for great actors. It’s part of the nature of the beast. A skillset you have as a comedian comes from such a dark place. You have this skillset to take something so dark and find something funny about it. It doesn’t mean you don’t deal with that pain. It’s just that you go, “What’s funny about it?” You make the world laugh at what’s funny. You take the pain and put it away. When you do a drama, you open up that little safe and let out all that pain you didn’t deal with.
Many great comedians make great actors. A comedian’s skill set often comes from taking something painful and finding humor in it. It doesn’t mean you ignore the pain, but you turn it into something funny.
I think comedians walk around like this. My heart is always on my sleeve. As a fool, you’re open to the crowd. You’re usually the wisest person in the room, but you’re also the silliest. I think that lack of ego allows you to really get in there and get to those emotions and let them out in a real way. I went to Performing Arts High School. I’ve been acting since I was five. I didn’t go for comedy. I went for dramatic arts.
I know how to act. I’m just known for being a comedian, and I wear that badge with honor because it’s hard to play 7 characters in 1 movie. I’ve played a White woman. I’ve played a little person. I’ve played a junkie. I’ve played a criminal. I’ve played 7 people in 1 movie. I played three people in White Chicks. At this point in my career, I just know I’m getting better. Whatever you give me, I don’t care if it’s a drama, a silly comedy, a romance, or an action. I’m at that point now. These are my Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington years.
Yes, they are. I couldn’t agree more. I think both of your dramatic roles so far have been Oscar-worthy performances. Speaking of Oscars, were you at the Oscars this time?
No, because I would have been torn. Who do I jump in for?
I know. I was just going to ask you, who would you have jumped in for?
They’re both my friends. Chris Rock approached me to do Bel-Air. I’ve known Chris Rock since I was twelve. I know Jada since I was nineteen. I’m torn in all kinds of ways, and I hope they all get together and have a big pow-wow. I think Will was clearly going through something. He’s 1,000% wrong, but calling Jada G.I. Jane, as a man who loved G.I. Jane, that is such a compliment. When that came out, it blew my mind. I was like, “That’s sexy.” He took it the wrong way. Obviously, the both of us deal with something.
I think we should check on our strong friends. That was a human moment from a god-like human. Everything he’s done up to that point, imagine the amount of pressure that has been on that man for that long. For him to snap like that, I texted him afterward. I said, “Look, congrats on the Oscar, beautiful work. Enjoy your night. Monday, you need to sit down with a therapist for three hours and unpack, because, brother, you’ve got stuff inside you that you have to let out.” I get concerned when I see that.
I think that’s probably exactly what he’s doing. I think he’s an amazing human being. Obviously, all three of them, Chris Rock and all of them, will probably end up sitting down together and hugging it out. It was a bad moment in time. I don’t know what I think about a ten-year suspension. What are your thoughts on a ten-year suspension?
For an act like that, I think it’s fair. They could have banned him for life. A ten-year suspension is a time-out to think about what you did because there are a lot of repairs that have to happen. That’s game-changing. To that moment, trying to erase it, it’ll take longer than ten years to erase that moment.
It’ll be a historic moment at the Oscars that none of us will ever forget.
I’ll do ten years, but I’m not giving back the statue.
Trauma In Comedy
That’s right. That’s going on my shelf, I know. That was a traumatic night. Many comedians come from trauma and, as you said, from a dark place. Can you speak to trauma, comedy, and your own history, and how you bring that out?
That’s the well from which my family pulls from. Our neighborhood, we grew up poor, in the projects, with all these characters around us. In and out of jail, crackheads, dudes on the corners, drug dealers. We’ve seen all that, and we just go, “What’s funny about it?” We were the class clowns. That was our gift in the community, to make people laugh. We just took it out of the community and brought it to Hollywood, and it was like, “What flavor is that?” It’s called ghetto, and it’s funny. It’s called the streets, and they’ve never seen comedy like the way we were doing comedy since maybe Richard Pryor.
We grew up poor in the projects, surrounded by tough characters. People were in and out of jail, dealing drugs. We were the class clowns, and our gift to the community was to make people laugh.
I think my new set right now talks about the most traumatic thing that happened to me, which is losing my mother. That’s crazy that you would make a set about losing your mother. What’s funny about that? I don’t know. It helped to heal me, talking about it on stage, expressing how I felt. I don’t know. I think I probably would have slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, too.
I can identify with losing your mother. I lost my mother to Alzheimer’s. I can also identify with the comedy that may come out of it, as if I were a comedian, just seeing the things that happened and occurred as I watched my mother. Eventually, she ended up in an amazing nursing home. I can see how you can turn a tragedy, a traumatic event of your mother dying, into a comedic experience.
At least your mother ended up in a wonderful nursing home. My mom was like, “I ain’t going to no home.” Changing your mama’s pampers, that’s love. It’s karma because they changed ours but we weren’t eating real food. We weren’t eating bacon, pork chops, ribs, and steak. We had that baby milk.
Family And Transparency
I had a horrible time putting my own mother in a nursing home, but at the time, it was the best thing for her, and it was an amazing experience. Speaking of family, I put out that I was going to interview you. I said, “Send in your questions.” I had one person respond, and it was my niece, Marie Earthman, at Pomp and Circumstance here in Houston. I want to give her a shout-out. I’m kidding. I had one response.
Marie wanted to know you’re transparent in your show. She said it was crazy that I was actually talking to you. She said you’re really transparent about your family, and you shared an experience about your daughter coming out. She wanted to know, how is that for you emotionally and mentally? How is your daughter doing with coming out? How did your family handle that situation?
It’s funny because my sister hit me up and was like, “Are you okay?” I was like, “What do you mean?” She goes, “With mine coming out and she made the transition.” I said, “Kim, I’m fine. That’s her life. It’s not mine. Acceptance is the greatest love you can have.”
Acceptance is the greatest love you can have.
I always tell my daughter she’ll label herself this or that and put this pronoun. Now she’s dead. Whoever you are, you will be loved. You could be Amai. You could be Kai. Whatever you choose to do in your life, you could be gay today, go back to straight tomorrow, and go back to being gay again on Thursday. That’s your life, as long as you’re smiling, as long as you’re happy. Daddy loves you, and love is acceptance.
For me to hold on and try to make this or that, no, this is her dash. This is her life. She has to honor that the best way she can. Nobody should be closeted about their life. People should be able to live their life to the fullest. If that is what you do, then be you. Why do you have to be assigned to be something for anybody except yourself? Be a great part. Be love, of course. Don’t judge people for being them. They’re just them and they have every right to be them, and you have every right to be you. It’s funny because now, with me, I’m like, “Now we’re getting all this out of the closet. You can tell people are really gay.”
I don’t know if you’ve seen the latest Madea movie, Tyler Perry movie, but when Tyler Perry’s Madea’s grandson decided he was going to come out, they were in the backyard, and it was a big family barbecue. They were all sitting around, and the grandson walks out, and he’s sweating, and he says, “I have something to tell you,” and the family’s just sitting there.
They’re all quiet, and they’re all squinting their eyes, and they keep panning over to Tyler Perry. I’m like, “How is this going to play out?” I knew what he was going to say, and he said, “I’m gay.” Not one person moved. Tyler Perry got up and started singing and hugging on him and dancing. They all got up and danced and loved on him, and they did exactly what you’re just saying. I’m so glad that’s basically what you did with your daughter. I have one request for you. You’re going to Florida very soon, and when you’re in Florida and working, I want you to stand up on stage and say, “Gay, gay, gay,” because in Florida, the new do not say gay rule is there. You’ve got to do something on that.
What is that?
Governor DeSantis in the state of Florida has enacted a new law stating that in elementary schools, you cannot use the word gay. I’m going to give Jordan Dean some information on it. I’ll email it to her and have her give it to you. In Florida, it is against the law to say the word gay to a child in elementary school.
I’m going to say it to a bunch of adults in the comedy club.
Upcoming Projects
I’ll send it to Jordan, and you all need to look at it. It is the most insane thing I have ever seen in my life. It’s an actual law. I thought you might appreciate that. Tell me if there are any shows or films coming out that you’d like to share about. I want to know if there’s going to be a White Chicks 2.
Maybe. We’ll see. Everybody wants White Chicks 2, but that’s seven hours of makeup, and it’s a lot of work, plus some heels. I’m like, “I make the same amount of money being a Black man, so you have to pay me a lot to do a White Chicks 2.” I have a movie called Boo coming out on Netflix on Halloween. It’s a father-daughter movie basically about a family that moves to a small town, and all the Halloween decorations come to life. My little daughter has to save the town and save the world. It’s cute. I have a special called The Headliners, starring five of my best comedian friends who have opened for me around the world, and I open for them. That night, they’re the headliners. It’s a really funny comedy special with me and five other comedians. I’ll be on tour.
I looked at your website, and I wish you all the best. My last question was going to be, what is your understanding of the human condition? I can tell from this brief interview and your daughter’s life, your experience, your background, and your mom that you absolutely have a key understanding of the human condition, and you’re a great example of it. Marlon Wayans, I really appreciate your time. Is there anything else you want to end on?
I’m good. Live, love, laugh, always.
Do you do anything to take care of your own mental health?
Yeah, I go to therapy. I have a therapist. I hit him up and sometimes I try to do weekly or monthly sessions. I’m always so busy, but when I feel I need to unpack, it’s time for me to sit down and talk, whether it’s on Zoom or in person. Sometimes, you just need to talk it out. That’s important because, for myself, insanity is everywhere, and a lot of mental health issues require prevention. Prevention is important. I do it when I eat right. I’m preventing getting diabetes through my diet. It’s the same thing with your mental health. You have to unload and unpack because, emotionally, we go through so much. If you don’t, you might snap and not know where you are.
When I feel it, I know I gotta unpack. Sometimes, you just need to talk it out, and that’s important even for me because insanity is everywhere.
Jordan Dean, thank you for being my co-host. I really appreciate you, Jordan, for setting this up. I wish I was up there with you guys, but I know you’re going to have a great time.
Thank you very much.
Wrap-Up
I really appreciate both of you. Jordan, thank you. Marlon, thank you. Keep doing the great work you’re doing. We love you very much.
I’m about to go do some great work right now. That’s easy.
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Absolutely.
We remind you that a clear diagnosis is key to the most effective treatment possible.
Yes, it is.
See you next time.
Thanks again, Robin.
Thank you.
Important Links
- Marlon Wayans
- YouTube – Understanding The Human Condition
- Apple Podcasts -Understanding The Human Condition
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